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Class-life 
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Mind as a Cause 



and 



Cure of Disease 



ELI BEERS 



Mind as a Cause 
and Cure of Disease 

Presented from a Medical, Srientifr and 
Religious Point cf I 

5 / Ca 



BY 

ELI BEERS 

. YALE UNIVERSITY, '86 
B.D., YALE THEOLOGICAL SEM1NAKY, '89 






PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 



RZ4-00 

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PREFACE 

The object of this work is to show, from the testimony 
of medical and scientific men, tin* marvellous power of 
the mind over the body. Its contents prove conclu- 
sively that, generally speaking, wrong or inharmonious 
mental states aiv a very prolific cause of di and 

produce a deleterious effect on all the functions of the 
body; whereas, on the other hand, right or harmonious 
mental conditions are equally potent to heal, and 1 
a beneficial effect instead. Therefore, t<» ] i a 

wrong, or inharmonious, to a right, or uious, si 

of consciousness must result in a cure, and that such 
is the case is capable of demonstration by dy. 

Hence, to be well one should carefully avoid all wrong 
states of thought and feeling and establish right < 
in their stead; nor can real or permanent healing be 
obtained in any other way. 

This book w 7 ill not be copyrighted, and whoever so 
desires is at liberty to use, in any way. the material, 
either as a whole or in part. 

ELI BEEKS. 
Chicago, February, 1914. 



CONTEXTS 

Chapter I page 

The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of SensaA 

General Remarks 1 

The Power of Mind — 

In Producing and Modifying □ 

In Causing Pain 17 

Ghapui ii 

The Relation of the \ 

General Remarks 

Mind as a Cause of Disease — 

Of the Voluntary Muscles 

Of the Involuntary Muscles 40 

PTD III 

The Relation of the Mind to I of th» <» 

Funetions 

General Remarks 

Deleterious Effects of the Mind — 

On the Secretions and K - 52 

On the Blood Gl 

On the Process of Nutrition 71 

Diseases Resulting Therefrom 

CHAPTER IV 

l\hpathy or Thought-Tra i 

General Remarks 

Experiments Carried On — 

By Various Individuals 85 

By the London Society for Psychical Research 91 

Explanation and Practical Value 109 



Contents 

Chapter V page 

The Principles of Mental or Psychic Healing 

General Remarks 113 

Healing as Related — 

To Disorders of Sensation 113 

To Disorders of the Muscles and of the Organic Functions. 135 
To Faith and Expectation 161 

Comments and Conclusions 177 

Chapter VI 

Evolution from a Physical and Metaphysical Point 
of View 

General Remarks 185 

Change of View as to — 

The Extent of Matter or of the Material Universe 187 

The Size of Material Objects or of Masses of Matter 189 

The Nature or Divisibility of Matter 190 

What this Knowledge Signifies 192 

Chapter VII 

The Belation of Mental Healing to the Welfare 
of Humanity 

General Remarks 195 

What it Teaches as to — 

The Kingdom of God 196 

The Relation of God to Man 199 

The Nature of Deity 200 

The Essential Nature of Humanity 201 

Beneficial Results Flowing from this Philosophy 202 



CHAPTER I 
The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of 

NATION 

To what extent sensation is physical and to what ex- 
tent it is mental is a matter regarding which there is 
a great diversity of view. Dugal Stewart, the distin- 
guished Scotch metaphysician, quotes Thomas Melville 
as saying: "No man can demonstrate that the objects 
of sense exist without him ; we are conscious of nothing 
but our own sensations; however, by the uniformity, 
regularity, consistency and steadiness of the impression, 
we are lead to believe that they have a real and durable 
cause without us; and we observe not any thing which 
contradicts this opinion" (36:414).* 

According to the old classification there were five so- 
called senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and 
feeling. From the standpoint of a later and more ex 
classification the last, that of feeling, is resolved into 
several separate senses or aspects of sensation, viz., 
touch, weight, temperature and so forth (see 12:215-24). 
Similar additions have been made to other senses. 
Hence it is said that "The normal man or woman has 
not only five senses, but at least a dozen. M 

Sensation is experienced through certain organs, 
which serve as so many media or avenues of communica- 
tion between the soul on the one hand and all the activi- 
ties going on in the seeming, or generally acknowledged, 
external world on the other. Therefore experience in 
this realm must be determined or limited by the nature 

* In the references the number before the colon is to the list 
of works given at the end of this book and the number (or num- 
bers) after it is to the page (or pages) of the work from which 
the quotation or extract has been taken. 



2 Mi)id as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

or condition of the organs themselves. Such being the 
case, it follows of necessity that, unless persons are born 
with the organs of sensation in exactly the same state 
or condition, they are not born in the same relationship 
to the phenomena in the outer world. Moreover, that 
they are not so born is very evident. Romberg observes : 
"There are many persons whose hearing generally is 
good, but whose power of hearing high notes is very 
limited. The range of hearing differs in different in- 
dividuals" (29: vol. 1, 244). Likewise Prof. Dolbear, 
in his very interesting work on Matter, Ether, and Mo- 
tion, says that the ear of an ordinary individual is 
able to take in vibrations or impulses varying all the 
way from twenty or thirty up to twenty-five thousand 
or so per second, while there are persons who have the 
sense of hearing so acute as to be able to take in as 
many as fifty or sixty thousand vibrations per second 
(see 13:262-3). But if one person can perceive only 
from twenty or thirty up to twenty or thirty thousand 
vibrations per second, while another individual can take 
in from twenty or thirty up to forty or sixty thousand 
in the same time, it follows logically that one of these 
persons is living in a world of sound twice as large as 
the other and must continue to do so as long as the 
organs of hearing of each remain in the same condition. 
And w r hat is true of hearing is true to a greater or less 
extent of every organ of sensation. Hence we are 
driven to the conclusion that the experiences of one 
individual in the realm of sensation are not necessarily 
a reliable criterion by which to determine those of 
another. 

Furthermore, not only do we find that people are 
born with the organs of sensation in a more or less im- 
perfect condition, but, not unfrequently, in such a con- 
dition as to render them practically valueless. For 
instance, they are born blind or they are born deaf. 
According to the testimony of able physiologists, if a 



Disorders of Sensation 3 

person has never had the use of a particular organ of 
sensation, then that person can n< ide to fully 

comprehend any of those experiences which come through 
that particular channel. That is to say, a person born 
blind can never be made to accurately understand what 
you mean by color; a person born deaf, what you mean 
by harmony or distinction in sound. In this case, how- 
ever, it usually happens that one or more of the other 
organs becomes more highly developed. For example, 
if persons have been born blind or otherwise deprived 
of sight, then they are likely to have a very remarkable 
sense of touch. It is said of Saunderson, who was a 
Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, England, and 
who was blind from the time he was two years old, that, 
by the use of this sense, he could "distinguish genuine 
medals from imitations" with greater accuracy "than 
many connoisseurs in full possession of their sensi 
(11 : 706). Van Norden in his work, 1 F tor, 

relates the case of a person in Switzerland born blind 
who could do the most exquisite work in carving, even 
to the carving of the form and I I of the human 

face (see 45:135). Likewise Dr. "William B. Carpen- 
ter, the distinguished writer on physiology, speaks of 
persons who, although blind, could "distinguish the 
colours of surfaces which were similar in other respects," 
and says that they were probably able to do this because 
their sense of touch was so acute as to enable them to 
distinguish the difference in "the position and arrange- 
ment of the particles composing the surface," whereby 
there arises the absorption of some rays and the reflec- 
tion of others, inasmuch as, in course of time, they had 
learned to associate this change of formation with cer- 
tain colors (11:707). 

Still again, it sometimes happens that the sense of 
Bmell is affected in a similar manner. For instance, it 
is said that James Mitchell, "who was blind, deaf, and 
dumb, from his birth," could distinguish not only mem- 



4 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

bers of the family to which he belonged but others by 
this sense. Humboldt, too, records that the Peruvian 
Indians could in this way tell in the "middle of the 
night' ' the nationality to which a person belonged 
(11:717). Physicians testify that prisoners have an 
odor peculiar to the criminal class and certain facts go 
to show that there is a power in mental states to give 
a peculiar chemical quality to all the substances of the 
body. Then, inasmuch as no two persons are alike men- 
tally they can not be alike physically. Moreover, there 
is reason to suppose that these effects of the mind upon 
the body extend also to the clothing that we wear and 
to everything that we touch. Otherwise how would it 
be possible for a dog to follow his master by the smell 
of his footsteps ? And why should it seem more strange 
that a person should be able to distinguish another by 
the sense of smell than by that of sight; for, according 
to the teaching of eminent physiologists, every sensa- 
tion ultimately resolves itself down to one, namely, that 
of touch or feeling? (See 12: 217-18.) 

With regard to the improving of the organs of sensa- 
tion, Unzer observes: "Frequent use has no slight 
effect in changing and perfecting the animal functions. 
By use alone the perception becomes more acute, for the 
musician perceives the least discord, and is annoyed by 
that which a person not a musician never notices" 
(18:444). The question naturally arises, Along with 
this greater development of sensation, does there take 
place a corresponding change in the physical organism 
— that is to say, in the substance of the organ through 
which the particular sensation is experienced? We 
should expect so and, if this be true, then just as it 
is possible to develop the muscles of the body by the 
expenditure of energy through this particular channel, 
so is it also possible to develop the organs of sensation 
in the same manner and, by this process, to greatly en- 



Disorders of 5 

largo and perfect the relation which the soul 
to all the phenomena of the outer world 

Not unfrequently, however, partial or complete lo 
some phase of sensation arises from a very distur 1 
mental state. Sir Astley ^Cooper tells of a little girl ten 
years old who one evening went into a dark room to get 
a knife, when one of her playmates, just in fun, sprang 
out from behind a door to startle her. So severe \ 
the fright that she became stone deaf and " three months 
after this had happened . . . continued in this deplor- 
able state" (6:172-3). Says Dr. Dalby: "I li 
known the hearing in apparently healthy subjects to be 
almost completely lost on the win i death 

of a near relative; on several occasions, immediately 
upon the receipt of news of a painful nature; in the 
case of women, upon the bight produced by a cry of fire 
or an alarm of burglars in tl : at the witnessing 

of the terrible sight of a man cutting his throat; once 
on the receipt of great good fortune which had not been 
anticipated. On each of these occasions the hearing 
power of the patient was ah ly good up to 

the time of the catastrophe, and immediately afterwards 
the deafness was intense, so that the change in all prob- 
ability was almost instantaneous'' (6:173).* These 
effects of disturbed states of consciousness pertain not 
only to hearing but also to the other aspects of sensa- 
tion. 

1, The Power of Mind to Produce and Modify Sensation 

We now proceed to a discussion of the power there 
is in the mind to produce every conceivable variety of 
sensation. More than half a century ago John Hunter, 
"who," according to Dr. Tuke, "might have been as 

* In some instances where I have quoted from authors I have, 
as here, given my reference to the same passage in the work of 
another person, instead of to the original production from which 
it was derived. 



6 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

great a metaphysician as he was a physiologist, ' ' made 
the concise but significant statement, l€ I am confident 
that I can fix my attention to any part until I have a 
sensation in that part 91 (lrvol. 1, 124). Likewise, Dr. 
Tuke himself, commenting on experiences of this sort, 
remarks: "If twenty persons direct their attention to 
their little fingers for five or ten minutes, the result will 
be something like this: A few will be unconscious of 
any sensation in this member; some will experience de- 
cided sensation — aching, pain (dysesthesia), throbbing 
(hyperesthesia), etc.; and the majority will feel a 
slight sense of weight (aesthesia) and tingling (pares- 
thesia). This simple experiment raises several ques- 
tions, as, Might sensations always be felt in the part 
from the changes which are constantly going forward 
in the tissues, but are unobserved except when the 
attention is directed to them? Or, does the act of At- 
tention excite increased vascularity of the sensory 
ganglia and cause subjective sensations? Or, lastly, do 
the sympathetic centres become excited, and the vaso- 
motor nerves influenced, so as to cause temporary vas- 
cular changes in the finger which involve sensation? 
The first supposition does not seem probable, except to 
a very slight extent. If correct, we should always feel 
some sensation in the finger when consciousness is di- 
rected towards it. We think both the remaining suppo- 
sitions have weight. Probably the feeling experienced 
is partially subjective; but we believe there is a real 
effect produced upon the finger if Thought is sufficiently 
long directed to it, and that these vascular changes are 
felt in the form of throbbing, weight, etc. Other 
changes are more likely to be subjective. 

"Mr. Braid tells us in his little book on Hypnotism 
that he requested four gentlemen, in good health, and 
from forty to fifty-six years of age, to lay their arms 
on a table with the palms of their hands upwards. Each 
was to look at the palm of his hand for a few minutes 



Disorders of Sensation 7 

with fixed attention, and watch the result. Entire 
silence was enjoined. VThat happened? In about five 
minutes, the first, one of the present members of the 
Royal Academy, stated that he felt a sensation of g> 
cold in the hand ; another, who is a very talented author, 
said that for some time he thought nothing was g< 
to happen, but at last a A / sensation took 

place from the palm of the hand, as if electric sparks 
were being drawn from it; the third gentleman, lately 
mayor of a large borough, said that he felt a very un- 
comfortable sensation of heat come over his hand; the 
fourth, secretary to an important association, had be- 
come rigidly cataleptic, his arm being firmly fixed to 
the table/ 

"It would be difficult to determine in these inst; 
by what train of thought I tTerent results came to 

pass; whether each imagined thai BUCh and such effects 
would be produced by the process, or whether an acci- 
dental condition of the hand at the moment cau 
certain very slight suggestions, which were intend 
by the Attention directed to them. Probably the former ; 
but one thing is certain, that had Mr. Braid suggested 
other effects, instead of preserving silence, the character 
of the sensations would have been greatly modified" 
(6:56-8). 

To show the potent effect of I on on sensation, 

we quote the following passage from the same author: 
"Mr. Braid, in investigating the alleged discoveries of 
Reichenbach in regard to the Od force, found that in 
nearly all cases, even when the person had not been 
hypnotized, drawing a magnet or other object slowly 
from the wrist to the point of the fingers produced va- 
rious effects. Among these were 'a change of tempera- 
ture, tingling, creeping, pricking/ while, when he re- 
versed the motion, ' it was generally followed by a change 
of symptoms from the altered current of ideas then 
suggested. Moreover, if any idea of what might be ex- 



8 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

pected existed in the mind previously, or was suggested 
orally during the process, it was generally very speedily 
realized. The above patients being now requested to 
look aside, or a screen having been interposed so as to 
prevent their seeing what was being done, if they were 
requested to describe their sensations during the repeti- 
tion of the processes, similar phenomena were stated to 
be realized when there was nothing whatever done be- 
yond watching them, and noting their responses' " 
(6:64-5). 

Likewise the following from the same writer is no 
less instructive: "Mr. Braid gives the case of a lady, 
above fifty-six, who had, when young, been a somnam- 
bulist, but in perfect health and wide awake when the 
experiment was tried. Having been placed in a dark 
closet, and desired to look at the poles of a powerful 
horse-shoe magnet, and describe what she saw, she i de- 
clared, after looking a considerable time, that she saw 
nothing.' However, after Mr. Braid told her to look 
attentively, and she would see fire come out of it, she 
speedily saw sparks, and presently it seemed to 
her to burst forth as if she had witnessed an artifi- 
cial representation of the volcano of Mount Vesuvius 
at some public gardens. Mr. Braid then closed down 
the lid of the trunk which contained the magnet, but 
still the same appearances were described as visible. 'By 
putting leading questions, and asking her to describe 
what she saw from another part of the closet (where 
there was nothing but bare walls), she went on describ- 
ing various shades of most brilliant coruscations and 
flame, according to the leading questions I had put for 
the purpose of changing the fundamental ideas. On 
repeating the experiments, similar results were repeat- 
edly realized by this patient. On taking this lady into 
the same closet after the magnet had been removed to 
another part of the house, she still perceived the same 
visible appearances of light and flame, when there was 



Disorders of Sensation 9 

nothing but the bare walls to produce them; and two 
weeks after the magnet was removed, when she went 
into the closet by herself, the mere association of i<: 
was sufficient to cause her to realize a visible represen- 
tation of the same light and flame.' The force of this 
illustration would remain exactly the same if it should 
be proved that a light, only visible to 'sensitives/ does 
proceed from magnets'' (6:74-5). 

Referring to this experiment, Dr. Carpenter remarks: 
1 'Other 'subjects' taken by Mr. Braid into his dark 
closet, and unable to see anything in the first instance, 
when told to look steadily at a certain point (though 
there was no magnet there), and assured that they would 
see flame and light of various colours issuing from it, 
very soon declared that they saw them; and in some of 
them, 'individuals of a highly concentrative and imagin- 
ative turn of mind/ the same sensations could be called 
up in open daylight (30:161-2). . . . 

"It is obvious that, if the principle be once admitted 
that real Sensations are producible fry Mmtal stc 
this principle furnishes the key to the explanation of 
a large number of those 'spiritualistic' experiences, in 
which objects are affirmed to be actually seen and felt, 
that only exist in the imagination of the ' subjects' of 
them" (30:164-5). 

In all probability, as Pr. Carpenter asserts, a "large 
number" of such "experiences" are capable of "expla- 
nation" on this basis, but not necessarily all; for, if so, 
might not this power of the mind to produce sensations, 
for a similar reason, be construed to prove the non- 
reality of sensations of any kind being produced by 
forces or agencies acting upon us from without? 

Dr. Tuke, speaking of the mind under the aspects of 
intellect and emotion, affirms that it "may excite ordi- 
nary sensation (sesthesia) which in addition, may be 
either excessive (hyperesthesia), or diminished (anaes- 
thesia), while it may also induce perverted sensation 



10 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

(paresthesia), which when painful, constitutes dyses- 
thesia" (6: 56, 154). That this very sweeping assertion 
is correct there is abundant evidence to prove. Says 
Sir Benjamin Brodie: "A gentleman of my acquaint- 
ance, of a very sensitive and imaginative turn of mind, 
informed me that not infrequently when he had his 
thoughts intensely fixed for a considerable time, on an 
absent or imaginary object, he had at last seen it pro- 
jected on the opposite wall, though only for a brief 
space of time, with all the brightness and distinctness 
of reality" (6:71). 

That such an experience would be possible, is very 
evident. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton in a letter to 
Locke, informs us that he was once engaged in carrying 
on an experiment which consisted in looking at the re- 
flection of the sun in a mirror and then directing his 
gaze to a dark portion of the room till the spectrum 
vanished. On one occasion, having done this three times, 
he thought he would see what the effect would be if, 
when the impression had almost faded away, he intently 
fixed his mind or attention upon it. The result was that 
the spectrum returned with all the vividness of reality. 
He proceeds to state that " after this I found that so 
often as I went into the dark and intended my mind 
upon them (the light and colors) as when a man looks 
earnestly to see anything which is difficult to be seen, I 
could make the phantasm return without looking any 
more upon the sun, and the oftener I made it return, 
the more easily I could make it return again." At 
length, says he, I was obliged to confine myself in a 
dark room for several days "to divert my Imagination 
from the sun; for if I thought upon him I presently 
saw his picture though I was in the dark. ' ' In this way 
and by directing his attention to other things he suc- 
ceeded in a few days of ridding himself of this nuisance. 
But the most remarkable circumstance connected with 
his experiment was this — that, whereas he had only 



Diiordi r$ of 1 1 

looked at the reflection in the mirror with his right 
"my Fancy," to use his own language, "began to make 
an impression on my left eye as well as upon my ri<_' 
(6:70). 

Commenting on this incident, , .says Dr. Take, 

"that here the powerful direction of Thought or 
tion produced the Ban* . or a point 

in the corresponding optic p as that 

of the sun itself upon the rig] 71). 

In an article in the Forinigh I ruary, 

1872, Mr. G. II. Lew. s. in speaking of diaries Dirk 
says that he once told him that he \v ; he 

put into the mouths of his <li« , s at first 

he remarks, "not a little puzzled to account for the fact 
that he could hear language BO Utterly unlike the lan- 
guage of real feeling, and nol be awi 
ousness; hut the surprise vanished when 1 thought of 
tlie phenomena of hallucination" (0:77-8). 

This peculiar effect of the mind in producing sight 
and hearing applies equally well to every kind of B 

ion as is evident from numerous examples. An 
cellent illustration of the effect of the mind or imagina- 
tion not only upon sight and hearing, hut also feeling 
iis well, is found in the following amusing incident re- 
lated by Dr. Braid: "Two captains of merchant 
arrived in port at the same time, and went to take up 
their quarters in their usual lodgings. They were in- 
formed by the landlady of the house, however, that she 
was very sorry that she could not accommodate them on 
that occasion, as the only bedroom which she could have 
appropriated for their use was occupied by the corpse 
of a gentleman just deceased. Being most anxious to 
remain in their accustomed lodgings, almost on any 
terms, rather than go elsewhere, they offered to sleep 
in the room wherein the dead body was laid out. To 
this the landlady readily gave her assent, considering it 
better, so far as she was concerned, to have three such 



12 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

customers in her room than only one, and he a dead 
one. Having repaired to bed, one of the gentlemen, who 
was a very great wag, began a conversation with the 
other, by asking him if he had ever before slept in a 
room with a corpse in it, to which he replied 'No.' 
1 Then, ' said the other, * are you aware of the remarkable 
circumstance that always, in such cases, after midnight, 
the room gets filled with canaries, which fly about and 
sing in the most beautful manner?' His companion 
expressed his surprise at this. But no sooner said than 
realized ; for, the candle having been put out, presently 
there was a burst of music, as if the room really was 
full of canaries, which were not only heard, but at 
length the horrified novice in the chamber of death 
avowed that he both saw and felt the birds flying in all 
directions and plunging against him. In a short time 
he became so excited that, without taking time to do his 
toilet, he rushed down stairs in his nightdress, assuring 
the astonished household of the fact, and insisting that 
the room really was quite full of birds, as he could tes- 
tify from the evidence of his senses, for he had not only 
heard them, but also seen and felt them flapping their 
icings against him" (6:171-2). 

On this amusing occurrence Dr. Tuke remarks as fol- 
lows: "The captain had some excuse for saying he 
heard them, although not for seeing or feeling them, for 
his companion had really imitated the note of the 
canary by blowing through a reed dipped in water" 
(6:172). 

The following on the sense of smell, related by Prof. 
Bennett, is especially suggestive: "A clergyman told 
me, that some time ago suspicions were entertained in 
his parish of a woman, who was supposed to have 
poisoned her newly-born infant. The coffin was ex- 
humed, and the procurator-fiscal who attended with the 
medical men to examine the body, declared that he al- 
ready perceived the odour of decomposition, which made 



Disorders of on 13 

him feel faint, and in consequence, he withdrew. But, on 
opening the coffin, it was found to be empty, and it 
afterwards ascertained that no child had been born, 
and consequently no murder committed" (3:15.) 

As regards the sense of taste Dr. Tuk. "So 

with the sense of I »ur ton;.' 

a Frenchman, k I cannot taste my dinner. 1 The cow 
sation distracted his Attention, and would not al] 
him to dwell upon his viands with to which a 

gourmand i With imaginative people, the food 

eaten or the fluid drank 8 

according to the fancy. Misled by station, 

grumbler finds the meat t; r i- ah 

nable. I have known a gentleman hopelessly fanciful, 
send out the ci table I »ur, 

and found it BWeet when | brought in what 

was supposed tO I e, hut was Q01 ; i Supply" (6: 80). 

When the api 
as in the following ably due to an ab- 

normal mental state <>r condition which has become ] 
manenl : "A the 

name of Bulimia, in which the patient i- d with 

an inordinate appetite, which nothing can s and 

which his will seems powerless to resist. One individ- 
ual whose ease i- recorded in the Transactions of the 
Royal Society, would eat an ordinary leg of veal at a 
single meal, adding to it a store of sow-thistles, and 
other wild vegetables. Another would devour raw. and 
even living, cats, rats, and dogs, the entrails of animals, 
and candles, to the extent of fourteen pounds daily" 
(28: vol. I, 102). 

The effect of a mental state on the sensation of cold 
is strikingly illustrated in the following example from 
The Psychic Treatment of Nervous Disorders, by Prof. 
Dubois: "One of my friends went into the barber's in 
winter, and put his chilled feet on one of those orna- 
mental brass rests with which everyone is familiar. Ini- 



14 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

mediately lie felt a gentle warmth steal over his feet, 
and said to himself: 'Now, that is a practical idea; you 
can put your feet up and get them warmed at the same 
tune!' He could not believe his senses when the ab- 
sence of all heating apparatus was proved to him" 
(31:111). 

The following incident, related by Erasmus Darwin, 
is even more remarkable: "A young farmer in War- 
wickshire, finding his. hedges broken and the sticks car- 
ried away during a frosty season, determined to watch 
for the thief. He lay many cold hours under a hay- 
stack, and at length an old woman, like a witch in a 
play, approached, and began to pull up the hedge; he 
waited till she had tied up her bundle of sticks, and was 
carrying them off, that he might convict her of the 
theft, and then springing from his concealment he 
seized his prey with violent threats. After some alter- 
cation, in which her load was left upon the ground, she 
kneeled upon the bundle of sticks, and raising her arms 
to heaven beneath the bright moon, then at the full, 
spoke to the farmer, already shivering with cold, 
'Heaven grant that tlxoxi never may est know again the 
blessing to be warm/ He complained of cold all the 
next day, and wore an upper coat, and in a few days 
another, and in a fortnight took to his bed, always say- 
ing nothing made him warm; he covered himself with 
very many blankets, and had a sieve over his face as he 
lay; and from this one insane idea he kept his bed 
above twenty years, for fear of the cold air, till at 
length he died" (6:165). On this strange event Dr. 
Tuke comments as follows: "Although the exposure 
to the cold of a frosty night had, no doubt, considerable 
influence in causing a chill in the first instance, the 
power of Fear in sustaining the morbid and purely sub- 
jective sensation of cold afterwards, cannot be denied" 
(6:165). 

Similar effects can take place in a somnambulistic con* 



Disorders of Sensation 15 

dition. Unzer says: "A somnambulist once fancied 
in winter, that, as he was walking by the side of a ri 
he saw a child fall in and drown. The bitter cold did 
not restrain him from saving it. He threw himself out 
of bed in the posture and with the movements of a per- 
son swimming, and when he had laboured diligently, he 
seized the bed-clothes with one hand, thinking it was the 
child, while with the other he attempted to swim to the 
imaginary shore. Then he laid his burden down, shiv- 
ered with cold, his teeth chattering, as if he had come 
out of an ice-cold river. II e said that he was stiff with 
cold, and asked for a glass of brandy. The dreamer had 
not really felt the ice-cold river, nor had repressed 
perspiration irritated the nerves of the muscles. The 
whole mental action of his foreseeing of both, mani- 
fested itself only by shivering and chattering of the 
teeth" (18:122-3). 

This power of the mind to affect sensation oftentimes 
gives rise to various forms of delusion. George Con 
when a boy, went to an execution. Later in I lik- 

ing of this circumstance, he remarks: "One incident 
impressed this scene very deeply in my memory. At 
that time boys wore round hats having a black cord out- 
side wound round the bottom, with which to contract 
their diameter, and make them fit the head. The night 
of the execution was clear starlight. After dark, I issued 
from the house for some purpose, and. behold, between 
me and the sky hung the executed criminal, dangling 
in his black clothes. I looked twice, and there he was — 
there could be no mistake. I uttered a scream, and ran 
into the house, as if his ghost had been pursuing me. 
The kitchen door was open, and I flew to the light. 
There I saw about three inches of the black cord de- 
pending from the front of my hat having a knot tied 
in the end of it, and as this came exactly between my 
eyes and the sky-line, when I looked up, the appearance 
of the unfortunate deceased was instantly accounted for. 



16 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

But I passed a restless and unhappy night, and it was 
many days before the scene faded from my mind, so as 
to permit tranquility to be enjoyed during the hours 
of darkness" (6:73). 

The following incident of a similar nature is related 
by Dr. Tuke: "A lady was walking one day from 
Penryn to Falmouth, and her mind being at that time, 
or recently, occupied by the subject of drinking foun- 
tains, thought she saw in the road a newly erected foun- 
tain, and even distinguished an inscription upon it, 
namely — 

1 IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME AND DRINK. ' 

Some time afterwards, she mentioned the fact with 
pleasure to the daughters of a gentleman who was sup- 
posed to have erected it. They expressed their surprise 
at her statement, and assured her she must be quite mis- 
taken. Perplexed with the contradiction between the 
testimony of her senses and of those who would have 
been aware of the fact had it been true, and feeling that 
she could not have been deceived (for ' seeing is believ- 
ing'), she repaired to the spot, and found to her aston- 
ishment that no drinking fountain was in existence — 
only a few scattered stones, which had formed the foun- 
dation upon which the suggestion of an expectant im- 
agination had built the superstructure. The subject 
having previously occupied her attention, these sufficed 
to form not only a definite erection, but one inscribed 
by an appropriate motto corresponding to the leading 
idea" (6:74). 

The following remarks by Dr. Tuke, are so appropriate 
and to the point that we give them in full : ' ' These in- 
stances form good illustrations of the slight influence 
of volition over sensation compared with that of a vivid 
mental image or idea acting upon the sensorial centres, 
and distorting or molding in other forms the impres- 
sions received from objects of sense. The fault does not 
lie in the afferent nerve, but in the central organs; not 



Di <at ion 17 

in the telegraph wire, but in the somewhat muddled 
official sitting at the company's head office am; 
ing to decipher the In truth, in our ordii 

language, we give the 6 worse character than they 

They report correctly on various occasions, 
but we draw an ineorn r read their reports 

in a hasty or slovenly manner. It is only when the sen- 
sory apparatus is I in the first instance that we 
can properly speak of the s iving us. The 
common reply to this apology for our senses is that in 
many insta a in that of the oar which, although 
entire, looks broken in the water, on in a 
healthy condition, mislead us. A little eoi ion, 
however, will show that our are not really at 
fault even in this instance, and that if we arrive at a 
false conclusion, it is t] It of our not making all 
ance for an intervening medium between the eye and 
the oar. Who would blame the eye because it could not 
see the oar at all. had tl d a stone wall in the 
way? As unfair would it be to charge the eye with de- 
ception because its function is interfered with and dis- 
torted by an intervenient fluid. The child 1 the 
oar broken because he has not yet learned the effect 
produced by the refracting power of water. Ignorance 
is the cause of an erroneous belief: the water the cause 
of the appearance of the oar; the organ of sight must 
be aquitted of all blame" (6:75-6). 

2. Mind as a Cause of Pain 

Not less striking are the effects of the mind upon the 
body experienced in connection with the sensation of 
pain. Here sympathy plays an important part as is 
evident from the following examples: "Lauzanus 
records the case of a young man who watched with great 
attention a priest being bled from the arm for an at- 
tack of pleurisy. Two hours afterwards he experienced 



18 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

a severe pain in his own arm, at the spot corresponding 
to that of the puncture, and did not get rid of it for a 
couple of days. This is a fair instance of the primarily 
neuralgic class of cases, caused by a stimulus acting cen- 
trally upon the sensory nerves. In this and in the fol- 
lowing case it is impossible to say how far emotional 
excitement assisted the result. 

"Gratiolet relates that a law student who was present 
for the first time in his life at a surgical operation, 
Which consisted in removing a small tumor from the ear, 
felt at the same instant so acute a pain in his own ear 
that he involuntarily put his hand to it and cried out. 
Gratiolet, who himself witnessed the circumstance, does 
not state whether the affected ear corresponded to that 
upon which the operation was performed, but this is 
implied. This case forms an excellent illustration of 
simple pain caused by what is popularly understood as 
1 Sympathy/ a fellow feeling, which might well bring 
it under the category of emotional influence " (6: 66). 

Says Dr. Symonds: "There is an interesting nar- 
rative in the fourth number of Brewster's Journal, of 
a lady who was troubled with spectres, and who was the 
subject of constitutional nervous irritability to a great 
degree. Her nervous disposition was in fact so extremely 
sensitive, that she could not hear of a surgical operation 
having been performed on any individual, such as the 
amputation of an arm, without suffering acute pain in 
the same part of her own person' ' (25: 254). 

Effects, corresponding to these, may arise from the 
"association of ideas." Take the following for example: 
"Dr. Kellogg records, in the American Journal of In- 
sanity, the case of a friend of his who informed him 
that he had frequently sailed, when young, in a steam- 
boat across an arm of the sea which was rough, and 
in consequence often suffered from seasickness. Upon 
this boat was as old blind fiddler who did his best to 
alleviate the Bufferings of the passengers with his violin. 



Disorders of Sensation 19 

The result was that this instrument became associated 
in his mind with seasickness, and for years he could 
never hear it without experiencing sensations of nausea 
or a sort of mal de mer. . . . 

"Gratiolet relates of himself that when a child his 
sight became affected, and he was obliged to pec- 

tacles. The pressure which their weight exerted upon the 
nose was so insupportable that he was obliged to dis- 
continue their us*'. Writing twenty years after, he says 
that he never sees any one wearing spectacles without 
instantly experiencing, very disagreeably, the sensation 
which had so disturbed him as a boy" (6:67). 

The power of an idea alone to produce the most B 
pain is strikingly exemplified in a ease related by Prof. 
Bennett of Edinburgh. "As illustrative of the strong 
influence of predominant i en in healthy persons, 

I mention," says he, "the following circumstan 
Mr. Macfarlan, the di on the North I in- 

formed me, that on one occasion a butcher was brought 
into his shop, from the market place opposite, labouring 
under B terrible accident. The man. on trying to hook 
up a heavy piece of meat above his head, slipped, and 
the sharp hook penetrated his arm, so that he himself 
was suspended. On being examined, li -ale, al- 

most pulseless, and expressed himself as suffering acute 
agony. The arm could not be moved without causing 
excessive pain, and in cutting off the sleeve he frequently 
cried out, yet When the arm was exposed it was found 
to be quite uninjured, the hook having only traversed 
the sleeve of his coat" (3: 15). 

Here we have phenomena corresponding to those pro- 
duced under the influence of hypnotism. Alluding to 
the effects of the mind upon the body in the hypnotic 
state, Dr. Tuke observes: "The individual under the 
influence of Braidism (hypnotism), persuaded that he 
is in danger of being lost in the snow, shivers with 
imaginary, but to him no less real, cold. Adopting the 



20 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

expression which the Tichborne trial has rendered so 
proverbial, we may say that Shakespeare would have 
been 'surprised to learn' that a man might be able to 
hold a fire in his hand and yet fancy himself cold by 
thinking on the frosty Caucasus, and, conversely, might 
be able, without feeling chilly, to 

Wallow naked in December snow, 

By thinking on fantastic summer's heat; 

for a central sensation of ideal or subjective origin, can 
supplant the sensation derived from peripheral impres- 
sion, since the antithesis suggested (being more power- 
ful in proportion to the original stimulus) would occupy 
that portion of the cortex habitually connected with 
simple sensation and thus a kind of local hypnotism 
result. 

"Professor Gregory reports one of those frequent 
cases in which, by suggestion, 'the subject' experiences 
a variety of sensations. 'One arm was deprived of sen- 
sation, or both arms, or the whole frame. He was made 
to feel a knife burning-hot, and the chair on which he 
sat equally so. When he started up he was made to 
feel the floor so hot that he was compelled to hop about, 
and wished to pull off his boots which burnt him. He 
was made to feel the room intolerably warm, and ac- 
tually perspired with the heat ; after which he was made 
to feel it so cold, that in a minute or two he buttoned 
his coat, and walked about rubbing his hands. In about 
five minutes his hand was really chilled, as I found, 
like that of a person exposed to frost' " (6:64). 

Says Dr. Dubois : ' ' The power of an idea is such that, 
not only does it distort a pre-existing sensation or an 
idea, but it can create the sensation in its entirety" 
(31:113). Evidently there is no sensation that can be 
produced in any way whatsoever by forces brought to 
bear upon the body from without that cannot be pro- 
duced by the mind or mental states alone operating from 



Disorders of 21 

within. Dr. Laycock asserts: "By an act of the will 
we can also excite new sensations. Let an individual 
concentrate his attention upon the interior of his head 
for a few minutes, and he will experience various e 
sations in the skin analogous to formication. Any one 
may produce at will a sensation in his finger-ends, by 
directing his attention to it. Dr. Elliotson mentions 
instances of this kind, and they and analogous cases are 
easily explicable by the proposition previously laid 
down, namely, that the peripheral and central ends 
of a sensitive nerve are identically MO). 

Says Wilkinson: "The nerves or brain form a rep- 
resentative which does not ome in contact 
with objects on the one hand, or with actions on the 
other, hut deals in the one ease with the images of things, 
in the other with unands of actions. It results 
from this that whatever will pr tral im- 
pression, sensation, imagination, or intellectual vision, 
will cause the of the object, whether it be 
present or not. Thus if the brain can radiate down the 
spinal cord a vibration like that which the cord receives 
from any object or an impression from without, the 
same motions will be engendered as flow from the oppo- 
sition of a real circumstance or object. So again, if 
the brain can shake the optical centres as light shakes, 
them, or can extemporize the part of light within them. 
the man will have the sensation of light as though it 
were present from the sun or candle. And so, too, if 
the soul or spirit, or any other spirit or influence, can 
make the imaginations or the thought-movements in the 
cerebral substance, these will seem as much our own 
thoughts as though no such influence had been exerted. 
But in both cases, be it remembered, there is an object 
out of the faculty excited; though in the one case the 
object is out of the organism externally, in the other case 
out of it internally. Each of the centres then, namely, 
the automatic, the animal, and the rational, are suscep- 



22 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

tible of a two-fold excitement: first, from a circumam- 
bient world, or from beneath, through their own proper 
circle ; secondly, from the organism, or organisms, 
above them, and thus indirectly from a higher circum- 
ambient sphere' ' (9:16-7). 



CHAPTER II 

The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of the 
Muscles 

In speaking of the effect of mental states upon the 
muscular system, Dr. Tuke o 1 "The Sympathy 

of the whole frame with the prominent ideas of the 
mind, by which one muscle or organ, when aroused to 
action by mental states, excites other muscles or organs, 
should not be overlooked. The term so applied has the 
authority of John Hunter, who lays down the law that 
1 every part of the body sympathizes with the mind, for 
whatever affects the mind, the body is affected in pro- 
portion. p This homogeneity between the actions of the 
muscles is exhibited whenever one muscle is excited by 
mental activity. "When ideal, it follows the course which 
would have been pursued in reality. As in presence 
of an actual scene, so in Imagination, when a person 
vividly imagines another in danger — say from the fall 
of a heavy weight — how the entire attitude assumes the 
form of averting the impending danger ! Reason tells 
him it is altogether useless to move a single muscle, yet 
not only does the law of Sympathy impel him to gesticu- 
late, but forces the whole system into harmonious action 
— the eye, the facial muscles, the arms and the legs, are 
thrown into violent action. When the scene is purely 
the work of Imagination, the effect is ordinarily feeble 
in character; but when a real scene is witnessed at too 
great a distance to render assistance, while the horror 
depicted in the countenance is merely the facial expres- 
sion of the Emotion, the motions of the arms, trunk, and 
legs are the automatic representations of the forms they 
would actually assume if rendering help on the spot. 

23 



24 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Thus, from the wonderful fellow-feeling established by 
nature between mind and mind, body and body, or be- 
tween the various parts of the mental and bodily con- 
stitution of an individual, the Imagination, 'sending 
electric thrills through every nerve of the body,' stirs, 
through the operation of Sympathy, the whole being to 
its depths; the nearest stations being in communication 
with the most distant outposts, and the frame changing 
now with its own and now with another's condition, as 
reflected in its own chambers of imagery" (6:98). 

Again, in describing the influence of emotion upon 
the muscles as a means of expression, he remarks: "As 
Expression depends on the contraction and relaxation 
of the muscles, the relation between Emotion and muscle 
becomes of great interest and importance in a physiog- 
nomical point of view, including in this all the fleeting 
expressions, gestures, and attitudes to which the pas- 
sions of the soul subject the body. The predominance 
of one emotion, or of emotions of one class, may cause, 
however, more than evanescent expressions — may de- 
termine the settled character of the features, and is the 
basis of physiognomy as distinguished from mere pathog- 
nomy — emotions of noble and lofty character tending 
to produce a refined, and those of a sensual character, a 
debased type of expression, which may become not only 
permanent in the individual, but hereditary. 

"As Scott describes Bertram's features in Rokeby — 

For evil passions cherished long 

Had plowed them with impressions strong. 

"On the contrary, as Ruskin says, * there is not any 
virtue, the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not 
impress a new fairness upon the features, neither on 
them only, but the whole body' " (6: 176-7). 

Having described the effects of various emotions upon 
the muscles, he further observes: "From these ex- 
amples, it is sufficiently clear that certain feelings of 



Disorders of the Muscles 25 

the mind act upon certain muscles of the body in prefer- 
ence to others. . . . The fixed relationshi] en cer- 
tain muscles and certain mental states is also prov 
conversely, by the effects produced in evoking the lat- 
ter, by placing the former in particular attitudes. This 
can be done to some extent in an ordinary condition of 
the system, but can only be thoroughly effected in arti- 
I somnambulism or Braidifl 

"To determine the exact relation between particular 
emotions and particular muscles, there are three met! 
available. The first is to the contraction of the 

muscles under the influence of well-recognized emotions, 
whether in Che sane or insane ; the . to call up dis- 

tinct feelings when the peculiar condition of the nervous 
system, known as artificial somnambulism, hafl been in- 
duced, and then to note the action of the muscles; the 
third, to galvanize the muscles separately and I 
the mental expression produced (6:189). . . . 

"Contraction, it In said, is the natural language 

of the painful emotions, relaxation of the pleasurable 
ones, and it is true that in the early stage of Grief we 
witness violent contractions of some of the muscles. In 
Anger, again, the muscles are vigorously contract 
but there are many exceptions to the rule as thus laid 
down. It would be more correct to say that the pleas- 
urable or joyous emotions impart expansion to the 
pression; the painful or sorrowful ones, concentration 
(6:194). . . . 

"Pleasurable and painful sensations from without 
determine, then, the form which the muscles called into 
action assume ; the purpose being to protect the organs. 
Similar muscular changes arise from the emotions, ac- 
cording as they are pleasurable or painful, in conse- 
quence of the harmony between mental and bodily acts. 
The mind, figuratively speaking, sees, hears, smells, 
tastes, touches and respires, and with each of these 
mental operations the feeling of pleasure or pain may 



26 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

be associated and affect the muscles accordingly. The 
emotions may eagerly receive or forcibly reject the 
stimuli which excite them (6:203). . . . 

"As we have already observed, some movements are 
of a sympathetic character. In the use of the bodily 
organs, in addition to the action of the muscles directly 
required, other movements arise which are in unison 
with them. The whole body — the attitude and gestures 
— will thus sometimes display sympathy with the exer- 
cise of only one sense. ' Whether one member suffer, all 
the members suffer with it ; or one member be honored, 
all the members rejoice with it.' This apparent excess 
of action is readily explicable as being correlated to the 
central disturbance, since the flow of nerve energy is 
directly proportionate to the causative emotion. It 
must not, however, be forgotten that this sympathy 
may be shown by passive as by active forms, by respect- 
ful and considerate relaxation as by jubilant contrac- 
tion" (6:208-9). 

Thus far we have confined our discussion to the effect 
of the mind and its various emotions upon the muscles 
as manifested in a state of health. Now, however, we 
are to speak on the relation of the mind to the muscles 
of the body in a state df disease, including all those dis- 
orders affecting the voluntary muscles upon the one 
hand and the involuntary upon the other. 

I. The Voluntary Muscles 

This topic naturally subdivides under two heads, loss 
of muscular activity or paralysis, and excessive or 
irregular muscular activity, in other words, spasms and 
convulsions. 

1. Paralysis 

It is not at all necessary in our treatment of this topic 
to cite examples of all or even of any considerable num- 



Dis of thi Muscles 

ber of the different kinds of paralysis and of the vaiv 
emotions which give rise to them. As to whether the 
paralysis skill be partial or total, or in one part of 
body or another will depend upon conditions within 
physical organism as well as upon the nature and 
intensity of the mental states. The principle is this: 
Inharmonious emotions lik nger, grief or fear, 

when very intense, will not unfreque lult in par- 

tial or total paralysis of one or more members of the 
body. 

Dr. Todd in his Clinical 1 relates 

a case which illusl ly a mental state may 

cause a disorder ol* this kind The patient 

Was a man between 50 and 61 of age, of irritable 

temper and hypochondriacal habit A question, 
ing some wry trifling matter, I ig to arise one 

evening in his family party. nt held out 

too stroiml. 1 to a vehement 

contradiction on his part, which a counter- 

statement and a rejoinder, and thus 
to such a degree that his power of lely 

abandoned him. ... Be continued in this speechless 
state for about a week, when he recovered, and w] 
once he began, the power of speech returned fully in a 
very short time. Two : occurrence the 

same gentleman got into a similar argument and differ- 
ence of opinion upon a matter equally trivial, and again 
became strongly d ; but this time, instead of becom- 

ing speechless, he became hemiplegic on the left side, 
without mental affection, but with decided palsy of the 
left side of the face. The paralysis was not complete, 
for he could move the fingers and leg very slightly. 
After a little time, without any other treatment than 
that of removing, so far as possible, all exciting causes, 
he recovered to a great extent the power over the arm 
and leg; but although the principal recovery took place 



28 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

about six weeks after the attack, he is now, four months 
after the occurrence of the hemiplegia, by no means 
quite well" (6:252-3). 

We will now turn to another phase of this malady, 
where the loss of control over the member arises in a 
somewhat different manner. The following very inter- 
esting case is related by Dr. Sky: "Many years ago 
when I was less familiar with hysteric affections I 
attended the case of a young lady of nineteen (suffering 
from a painful affection of the knee) in conjunction 
with Mr. Stanley. We both deemed the disease to be- 
long to the class of inflammation, and conjointly adopted 
the usual remedies so indiscriminately resorted to in 
all painful affections of the joints. Many weeks elapsed 
without improvement, and I remember that we discussed 
with some anxiety the probable issue in abscess, destruc- 
tion of ligaments, absorption of cartilage, and ultimate 
amputation of the limb ! One day my patient informed 
me that her sister was going to be married, and that, 
cost what it might, she had made up her mind to attend 
the wedding. At this proposal I shuddered. Having 
expatiated to no purpose on the probable consequences 
of so rash an act, with all the force of language I could 
command, I determined to give stability to the joint for 
the occasion, and I strapped it up firmly with adhesive 
plaster. On the following day I visited her. She told 
me she had stood throughout the whole ceremony, had 
joined the party at the breakfast, and had returned home 
without pain or discomfort in the joint" (6:385-6). 

Says Dr. Tuke: "Hysterical affections of the joints 
are good examples of morbid conditions arising from 
the imagination, but are usually more or less emotional 
states. Sir B. Brodie observes, 'the symptoms may fre- 
quently be traced to the circumstance of the patient's 
attention having been anxiously directed to a particu- 
lar joint' " (6:106-7). Moreover, Sir B. Brodie is said 
to have asserted "that at least four-fifths of the female 



Disorders of the Muscles 29 

patients among the higher classes of society, supposed 
to labor under diseased joints, only labor under hys- 
teria" (6:107). 

There is still another way in which troubles of this 
bind may arise. Dr. Crichton in his work on the Nai 
and Origin of Mental Derangement relates the follow- 
ing very peculiar case: "In Kleische, a small village in 

Germany, belonging to Mr. V. S , a maid servant of 

that gentleman's family was sent a short league from 
home to buy some meat. She executed her orders cor- 
rectty, and as she was returning in the evening, 
thought she suddenly heard a great noise behind I 
like the noise of many wagons. Upon turning round she 
observed a little gray man, not bigger than a child, who 
commanded her to go along with him. She did not, how- 
ever, return any answer, but continued to walk on. The 
little figure accompanied her, and frequently urged her 
to go along with him. Upon reaching the outer court 
of her master's residence she was met by the coach- 
man, who asked her where she had been, to which she 
returned a very distinct answer. He did not remark 
the little man, but she still continued to do so. As she 
was passing the bridge he summoned her for the last 
time, and upon her refusing to answer him, he told her, 
with a menacing look, that she should be four days blind 
and dumb, and having said so he disappeared. The girl 
hastened to her apartment and threw herself on the bed, 
unable to open her eyes, or to pronounce a ward. She 
appeared to understand all that was said, but could not 
make any answer to the questions which were proposed 
to her, except by signs. Everything was tried for her 
recovery by the family with whom she lived, but all 
was in vain. She was incapable of swallowing the medi- 
cines which were ordered for her. At last, on the ex- 
piration of the fourth day, she arose in tolerably good 
health, and narrated what had happened to her" 
(6:105-6). 



30 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Effects, similar to those just mentioned, can be pro- 
duced very easily under the influence of hypnotism. If 
a person, having closed his eyes at the command of a 
hypnotist, be told by him that he cannot open them, he 
will be unable to do it. If, however, a moment later he 
be told by him that he can, he will experience no diffi- 
culty whatever in doing so. In like manner, if he be 
told by him that he cannot speak or raise his arm, he 
will be unable to perform these acts until told by his 
hypnotizer that he can. Thus, by a positive assertion 
on the part of the hypnotist, he can, in an instant, be 
deprived of the use of any member of his body and have 
it restored as readily. 

Dr. Tuke observes : i ' The simple belief or conviction 
that a muscle can not be contracted or relaxed is suffi- 
cient in a sensitive person, or in one in whom this sensi- 
tiveness is induced, to cause temporary loss of power. It 
is referred to the Imagination ; in other words, the effort 
to carry out the desire or will is paralyzed by the absorb- 
ing conviction that it will be ineffectual" (6: 105). 

2. Spasms and Convulsions 

Says Dr. Tuke: "Few are the illustrations which 
will be given of the influence of the Intellect in causing 
spasms and convulsions. When we treat of the Emo- 
tions, our cases will be abundant, and the difficulty will 
then be in selection rather than collection. A cold and 
abstract idea, before it generates any Emotion, is not 
calculated to cause excessive muscular contractions. . . . 

"It is, however, when a powerful expectation is 
excited that we are most likely to witness spasm or con- 
vulsion. To obtain cases in which Expectation of the 
phenomenon only exists, without the emotion of Fear is, 
however, a difficult task" (6: 100). 

Dr. Althaus in the Medical Times and Gazette of 
April 24, 1869, relates an incident which will illustrate 



Disorders of the Muscles 31 

cases of this kind : A little girl five years old was play- 
ing at ghost in a cellar with some other children, when, 
taking the supposed ghost to be a real ghost, she became 
exceedingly frightened and fell down in a fit of epileptic- 
convulsions. "Some years afterwards she had another 
fright, by a woman coming up to her while she was 
playing in the street, and swearing at her. Since this 
she has never been quite free from fits. The convulfi 
seizures are well marked, commencing with a scream; 
the head is turned to one side, there is foam at the 
mouth, the tongue is bitten, the urine often passes invol- 
untarily. The convulsion lasts four or five mini; 
during which there is compl oa of consciousness. 

After the fit the patient sleeps for half an hour, and 
then wakes with a bad headache, and speaks slowly and 
thickly for some time. There is no aura with these 
which occur at intervals of two or three Some- 

times she has a succession of five or six in the same day; 
at others only one or two at a time. The attacks of 
petit mal are much more frequent, as she has some- 
times thirty or forty such seizures in one day. and rai 
goes three or four days without any" (6:211-12). 
Moreover, grief, anger and kindred mental states might 
produce a corresponding effect or give rise to chorea, 
catalepsy and other forms of convulsive affections. 

Furthermore, disorders like t! ty arise from 

imaginary causes, as is evident from the following cases 
related by Dr. Sweetser: "A man traveling alone by 
night, encountered a large dog in a narrow path, and 
fancying himself seized by the animal, he reached home 
in extreme terror, and on the following morning \ 
attacked with a violent fit of epilesy, of which he after- 
wards had many returns (5:193). . . . 

"The terrors with which some persons are so often, 
or almost habitually agitated during their nightly slum- 
bers, can hardly be otherwise than detrimental to the 
health of the body. A frightful dream will sometimes 



32 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

impair the appetite, and leave the individual pale, 
melancholy, and with his nervous system in a state of 
morbid commotion through the whole of the subsequent 
day. . . . Even convulsions and epilepsy have been the 
unhappy consequence of such imaginary terrors. Tissot 
relates an instance of a robust man who, on dreaming 
that he was pursued by a bull, awoke in a state of great 
agitation and delirum, and, in not many minutes after, 
fell down in a severe fit of epilepsy" (5 : 215-6). 

Likewise a vivid idea or impression may also lead to 
a repetition of the attacks. For instance, it is said that 
a boy eleven years old was thrown into epileptic convul- 
sions by the great grief occasioned by the loss of his 
mother. Inasmuch as he continued to grow worse, in 
course of time he was taken to a hospital. While there 
he remarked to the physicians, "I am seized through 
my thoughts.' ' Upon investigation it was found that 
he had reference to what Jules Falret meant when he 
said that "many persons who have become epileptics 
after strong moral emotions, or intense terror, see again 
in spirit or before their eyes, on each succeeding seizure, 
the painful circumstances or the dreadful scene which 
first produced their complaint' ' (6:213). 

Regarding phenomena of this kind Dr. Tuke observes: 
"The simple thought or remembrance of previous at- 
tacks suffices with some epileptics to cause a recurrence 
of the fit ; and still more potent is the recollection of the 
cause, if the cause has been of an alarming character. 
Ideal Emotion simply takes the place of the original 
feeling. In Van Swieten's works is recorded a case of 
epilepsy which may be referred to this principle, that 
of a boy who, having been frightened into epileptic fits 
by a great dog, had a recurrence of the attacks when- 
ever he heard a dog bark" (6:101). 

Moreover, disorders of this sort are multiplied in 
society by the operation of the law of "imitation." 
Viewed from a psychical standpoint, these cases do not 



Disorders of the Muscles 33 

differ essentially from the preceding, only the impres- 
sion is produced from without instead of from within. 
The following incident, related by Prof. Dubois, may 
serve as an illustration of this principle: "At Berne 
thirty little girls were taken with articular pains and 
rhythmic movements of the arms. It was necessary to 
separate the patients in order to stop the attacks, which 
were purely imitative. . . . 

"These young girls found themselves in certain con- 
ditions of companionship and intimacy which created a 
psychological condition favorable to contagion, and they 
succumbed to it by reason of a weal I judgment 

which is very natural at that age. Suggestibility has no 
limits in the normal child because of the insufficient 
development of the reason" (31:175). 

That disorders arising from the operation of this law 
are not confined to children alone is very evident, as 
shown by the following incident which occurred at 
Lyons in France: "In a workshop whore sixty women 
were at work, one of them, after a violent altercation 
with her husband, had a nervous attack. Her com- 
panions pressed round her to assist, but no sooner had 
they done so than first one and then another fell a prey 
to the same kind of attack, until twenty were prostrated 
by it. The contagion appeared likely to spread through 
the company, but was checked by charing the room" 
(6:101). 

Doubtless to most people, in consequence of their 
ignorance of the laws * hich govern the relation between 
mind and body, it would look as though those persons, 
who, having gathered around this woman, went into 
convulsions, were weak minded. Yet this does not neces- 
sarily follow. Once a very intelligent lady — an able 
writer and effective speaker well known both in this 
country and abroad — told me that at one time she was 
seated before a large audience when a person near the 
front went into convulsions. It chanced that her atten- 



34 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

tion became completely absorbed in this person. As a 
result she found herself going into the same state, but 
turned her gaze in another direction just in time to 
save herself. It is a well known fact that if a given 
picture or mental conception gets entire possession of 
the mind or consciousness then there will follow a corre- 
sponding activity within the physical organism. Further- 
more, no matter how the impression has been produced, 
whether from without or from within, the result will be 
exactly the same. Therefore occurrences of this kind 
result, in no small measure, from susceptibility to im- 
pression on the one hand and power of concentration 
on the other, neither of which are to be associated neces- 
sarily with weakness of mind or character. 

On this principle Miiller remarks: "The idea of a 
particular motion also determines a current of nervous 
action towards the necessary muscles, and gives rise to 
the motion independently of the will. In this way the 
movements of yawning, laughing, etc., are produced 
involuntarily, w r hen another person is seen to yawn or 
laugh" (2: vol. II, 1398). 

Likewise Dr. Tuke, speaking of the workings of this 
law, observes: "If John gapes when he sees Thomas 
gape, it is because the idea is forcibly presented to his 
mind, and thus produces analogous acts. The idea is in 
this case excited through the sense of sight or of hear- 
ing; but it may be suggested in other ways, as when 
John simply thinks of the act and the same effect is 
produced, as has happened to myself from writing this 
sentence. Here w r e meet the additional principle, that 
whatever mental or bodily state can be excited through 
the senses from without, may arise from within, from 
Imagination proper. . . . Imitation is closely allied 
with phenomena popularly referred to the Imagination ; 
with those astonishing psychological dramas which have 
at various epochs arrested the attention of the world. 
To this remarkable principle of our nature which leads 



Disorders of the M 35 

us to act involuntarily like others, the convulsions and 
faintings, which, in sensitive persons, follow the witness- 
ing of these conditions, are due" (6:53). 

Owing to the operation of this principle, numerous 
cases of rabies, ascribed to the imagination alone, are 
to be found in medical works. Dr. Ferriar, referring 
to this malady, asserts: "Dr. Percival has justly 
remarked in his letter to Dr. Haygarth that the diffi- 
culty of swallowing is sometimes produced by the power 
of Imagination alone. I met with an instance of this 
kind lately in which it was very difficult to prevent a 
person from rendering himself completely hydrophobic. 
Himself and his wife had hern bitten by a dog which 
they supposed to be mad. The woman thought herself 
well, but the man, a meagre, hypochondriacal subject, 

fancied that he had W in his throaJ 'hat 

he could hardly swallow anything. When lie first ap- 
plied to me a medical friend who was p» -ked 
him whether he had any ion of heat at the pit 
of the stomach, lie answered in the negative doubt- 
fully; but next day I found him in bed, complaining 
of heat at the pit of the stomach, difficulty of swallow- 
ing, tremors, and confusion in the head. He continued 
to persuade himself that he was ill of rabies, and con- 
fined himself to bed, expecting death for nearly a fort- 
night. At last I remarked to him that persons who 
were attacked by rabies never survived more than six 
days; this drew him out of bed, and he began to walk 
about. By a little indulgence of his fears this might 
have been converted into a very clear case of hydro- 
phobia, and the patient would probably have died" 
(6:102-3). 

Likewise Dr. Tuke, alluding to cases of this kind, 
remarks: "Romberg cites from Chomel the case of a 
physician at Lyons, 'who assisted in the dissection of 
several hydrophobic patients, and was seized with the 
conviction that he had been inoculated with the virus, 



36 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

He lost his appetite and was sleepless; when he at- 
tempted to drink he was seized with choking and spasm 
of the pharynx; for three days he wandered about the 
streets in a state of despair till at last his friends suc- 
ceeded in convincing him that his malady had its foun- 
dation in his mind.' Trousseau says he has known 
physicians — men of strong minds and courage — who, 
although well aware of the conditions needed for the 
development of rabies, were subject for several months 
and even years after attending and dissecting persons 
suffering from hydrophobia, to more or less distressing 
attacks of dysphagia, on the mere recollection of the 
awful scenes which they had witnessed. 'Time alone 
got rid of their nervous susceptibility, which manifested 
itself in the shape of spasm of the pharynx, and they 
cured themselves of it by appealing to their knowledge 
of the disease and by forcing themselves to drink some 
liquid whenever they felt this sensation coming on.' 
It may here be observed that, according to this physi- 
cian, there is in nervous hydrophobia dysphagia only, 
and no general convulsions, the spasm affecting the 
pharynx alone, while the respiration is unaffected 
(6:234-5). . . . 

1 ' So evident is the influence of the Imagination in the 
development of hydrophobia, that some distinguished 
medical professors have, as is well known, gone so far 
as to maintain that it is always due to this cause. The 
strange tendency which exists among many reasoners, 
when investigating the causes of morbid phenomena, to 
range themselves under one of two exclusive extremes — 
the first attributing nothing, and the last everything, 
to the Imagination — is strikingly exhibited here" 
(6:239). 

That a person could die from imaginary hydrophobia 
is evident from the following incident related by Dr. 
Moore: "A gentleman who had constantly witnessed 
the sufferings of a friend afflicted with stricture of the 



Disorders of the Mus 37 

aesophagus, had so great an im] on his 

nervous system that after some ti meed a 

similar difficulty of swallowing, and ulti 1 of 

the spasmodic impediment produced by merely thinking 
of another's pain" (34:241). 

The principle operative in the examples ji 
tioned has a most important bearing upon the training 
of children and also upon certain cases of suicide and 
homicide. As regards the former, Dr. marks : 

"Parents, to escape the Q< 1 trouble of their chil- 

dren, are too prompt to submit them to the care of 
servants, so that many really receive a much la: 
share of their primary education in the kitchen than 
in the parlor. That such should I inly 

to be regretted, it belonging to our imitative na1 
readily to acquire the habits, in; a of 

thinking and speaking of those with whom we habitually 
associate. And moi s this true in early I 

when the mind and body are unfolding tl and 

the brain, soft and delical - with the % 

facility every impression. Boerhaa tes that a 

schoolmaster near Leyden being squint-eyed, it 
found that the children placed under his care soon 
exhibited a like obliquity of vision. It has been well 
observed, that there is a necessity for us either to imi- 
tate others or to hate them" (5:228). 

Commenting on the relation of this principle to sui- 
cide Dr. Tuke observes: "From what but the unreason- 
ing operation of this law, excited by an association of 
ideas, could it happen that, when a sentinel of Napo- 
leon's army committed suicide by hanging himself in his 
sentry-box, several immediately followed his example 
when they became his successors in the same box ? What 
a practical commentary on this imitative principle of 
the mental constitution that, to prevent further mis- 
chief, Napoleon found it necessary entirely to destroy 
the box by fire. Such facts demonstrate in strong 



38 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

is the duty of not neglecting the idiosyncrasies of 
men and women as regards the association of external 
and internal images. Often what we call idiosyn- 
are the workings of a universal principle acting 
ptionally in consequence of the absence of certain 
modifying influences — a principle underlying a thou- 
sand acts, unsuspected or unrecognized until exposed by 
the removal of its ordinary safeguards" (6:102). 

Likewise the following remarks by Dr. Sweetser on 
both suicide and homicide are especially suggestive in 
this connection : ' ' Even the reading of cases of suicide 
may sometimes call into action this principle of imita- 
tion, and lead, it may be, to fatal consequences. An 
instance in illustration occurred a number of years since 
in Philadelphia, an account of which was published at 
the time by Isaac Parrish, M. D., of that city. This sub- 
ject was a girl in her fifteenth year, who had been care- 
fully brought up, and whose situation in life was appar- 
ently every way agreeable. It seems that early in the 
morning of the day of her death, 'she had held a con- 
versation with a little girl residing in the next house, 
in which she mentioned having lately read in the news- 
paper of a man who had been unfortunate in his busi- 
ness, and had taken arsenic to destroy himself. She 
also spoke of the apothecary's shop near by, and said 
she frequently went there.' 

"It appeared that two days prior to her death she 
had purchased half an ounce of arsenic of a druggist 
in the neighborhood, for the pretended purpose of kill- 
ing rats, which she had used as the instrument of her 
own destruction. 

"It is a fact well known in respect to certain indi- 
viduals, especially when of a nervous or sensitive tem- 
perament, that if the thoughts of any particular deed, 
calculated, from its criminal or hazardous character to 
make a deep impression on the feelings, chance to be 
strongly awakened in the mind, they cannot be banished, 



Disorders of the Muscles 

but becoming more and more concentrated, a propen- 
sity, sometimes too powerful for i ^in- 
mission of such deed, will actually follow. Were such 
an one now to become deeply affected — either from his 
connection with its subject, or its peculiar circus 
— by the occurrence of a suicide, the idea might continue 
pertinaciously to haunt his imagl uncon- 
querable inclination to the like unnatural deed be 
consequence. And that murders are sometimes com- 
mitted under the san. ad urgent impi 
is a fact too well established for denial. 1 
an instance in point, which, many years - 
within my immediate knowledge. A young femi 
while sitting with an infant in her arms near s fire, over 
which hung a large kettle of boiling water, nly 
started up and in a hurried and agitated D ran 
to a distant part of the room. On asking her the reason 
of this she, after a little hesitation, told me that 62 
her eyes on the boiling water, it occurred to her 1 
dreadful it would he should she bj at let the child 
fall into it. 'On this idea crossing my mind,' said she, 
'I instantly began to feel a propensity to throw it 
which soon grew so strong that had I not forced 
myself away 1 must inevitably have yielded to it.' 
(5:293-4.) .... 

"The inclination to homicide exhibits the same 1 
markable tendency to spread from the force of imita- 
tion, as we have previously shown exists in that to 
suicide. In proof of this examples enough will be found 
on record. We read that the trial of Henrietta Cornier, 
in France, for infanticide — it becoming, from its peculiar 
and deeply exciting circumstances, a subject of very 
general attention and conversation — occasioned m many 
respectable families a strong propensity to the same 
unnatural deed" (5:297-8). 

Dr. Tuke aptly remarks that ' ' the pernicious influence 
of this principle in connection with witnessing or read- 



40 Mind a<s a Cause and Care of Disease 

ing the reports of atrocious crimes, as in the Police News, 
Will occur to the reader, and need not be detailed here" 
(6:101). 

II. The Involuntary Muscles 

Referring to the intellect and the emotions, Dr. Tuke 
says that they "act upon the Heart and non-striated 
muscles with a power similar to that which they exercise 
over the voluntary or striated muscles ; causing contrac- 
tion, spasm, and paralysis" (6:109, 262). 

As regards the effect of the emotions upon the stomach 
he observes : ' ' Digestion is affected by the contractions 
of the muscular coat of the stomach as well as by the 
amount and character of the gastric juice, and there- 
fore the disturbance of this process which so often 
results from emotional changes is due, in part, to abnor- 
mal contraction of these muscular fibres" (6:300-1). 

Likewise, in speaking of the effect of emotion upon the 
intestines, he remarks: "Of the influence of Emotion 
in increasing the peristaltic action of the intestines, the 
ordinary effect of Fear and Fright affords the readiest 
illustration. The simple result of this muscular con- 
traction — the discharge of the contents of the bowels — 
is rarely unmixed with increased secretion from the 
intestinal glands, and therefore we shall have to return 
to the consideration of these effects when we speak of 
secretion and excretion. It must be noted here, how- 
ever, that the involuntary muscular fibres of the gland- 
ducts which discharge themselves into the alimentary 
canal are acted upon and contribute to the resulting 
diarrhoea" (6:301). 

That inharmonious mental states do seriously inter- 
fere with the muscular activities of the stomach and in- 
testines is very evident from the results of experiments 
carried on by Dr. W. B. Cannon of the Harvard Med- 
ical School, from which we make the following brief 
extracts: " Early in the research a marked unlikeness 



Disorders of the Muscles 41 

was noticed in the action of the stomachs of male and 
female cats. The peristalsis seen with only a few excep- 
tions in female cats failed to appear in most of the 
males, although both had received exactly the same treat- 
ment. Along with this difference was a very striking 
difference in behaviour when bound to the holder; the 
females would lie quiet, mewing occasionally, but purring 
as soon as they were gently stroked. The males, on the 
contrary, would fly into a violent rage, struggle to be 
loose from their fastenings, bite at everything near their 
heads, cry loudly and resist all attempts to quiet them. 
On account of this difference only female cats were used 
for some time, and the significance at first attributed 
to the action of the males was almost forgotten when 
the following incident recalled it and suggested that the 
excitement caused the BUpenskm of the stomach move- 
ments. On October 23, 1897, a male cat was fed at 
12:00, but was not placed on the holder till ninety min- 
utes later. Th re passing at the rate of six 
a minute. The cat fell into a rage and the waves sud- 
denly stopped (35:337-8). . . . 

"It has long been common knowledge that violent 
emotions interfere with the digestive process, but that 
the gastric motor activities should manifest such extreme 
sensitiveness to nervous conditions is surprising 
(35:339-40). . . . 

"The stomach consists of two physiologically distinct 
parts : the pyloric part and the fundus. Over the pyloric 
part, while food is present, constriction waves are seen 
continually coursing towards the pylorus; the fundus 
is an active reservoir for the food and squeezes out its 
contents gradually into the pyloric part (35:340). . . . 

"The food in the fundus is not moved by peristalsis, 
and consequently is not mixed with the gastric juice; 
salivary digestion can therefore be carried on in this 
region for a considerable period without being stopped 
by the acid gastric juice. . . . The stomach movements 



42 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

are inhibited whenever the cat shows signs of anxiety, 
rage, or distress (35:340-1). . . . 

" There is no doubt that many emotional states are a 
strong stimulous to peristalsis, but it is equally true that 
other emotional states inhibit peristalsis. In the cat the 
same conditions which stop the movements of the 
stomach stop also the movements of the intestines 
(35:383-4). . . . 

"Signs of emotion, such as fear, distress, or rage, are 
accompanied by a total cessation of the movements of 
both large and small intestines" (35:388). 

Says Dr. Dubois: "Professor Kronecker of Berne, 
summed up before an audience of physicians one day 
his experiments on the peristaltic movements of the dog 
... by these words: 'Now, gentlemen, the thing that 
acts chifly on the intestine of the dog is his emotions, 
whether joyful or sad.' . . . 

"If mental representations are enough to provoke 
secretions, and accelerate the peristaltic movements in 
a dog, must not this intervention of the idea be still more 
powerful in man, in whom the psychic life is so much 
more rich and complicated?" (31:289.) 

The uterus, too, as one would naturally expect, is 
potently affected by disturbed states of consciousness. 
"Under this head," says Dr. Tuke, "we shall only refer 
to' the fact familiar to every general practitioner — the 
influence of violent emotion in causing miscarriage, and 
of arresting uterine contraction in labor. Hence, if an 
accoucher leave his patient and another take his place, 
the progress of labor is generally impeded ; uterine con- 
traction ceasing for hours. Yet medical men often 
strangely forget the importance of avoiding unpleasant 
mental impressions under such circumstances" (6:304). 

The effect of mental activity upon the action of the 
lungs is strikingly portrayed in the following descrip- 
tion by Wilkinson: "The breath awaits while the 
steady-fingering thought explores, and then inspires, not 



Disorders of tl 43 

whatever comes, but precise information. Let the reader 
observe himself when he is feeling for such information, 
and he will find his curiosity rejoicing in periods of - 
pended lungs. ... It is also to be noticed that the 
voice, which consists of perceptions freed from the mind 
and launched into the air. is made of the material 01 
expirations. The mind is breathed out into the social 
world by the expirations and their pauses, and not 
the inspirations. . . . Thought is still, and contempla- 
tion breathless; each involving, first, fixed breath, and, 
second, a small expiring; and so on until the though 
traversed, or the effort ends and . To 

the suspended animation H ous- 

ness; to the intellect, suspended animation may 
thought and supreme wak Int 

touches so near upon trance that the highest cases of 
either involve common phenomena, and exist in the same 
persons' ' (9:113-4). 

Commenting on the effect of emotion on the brain Dr. 
Tuke remarks: "The stimulating influence of emotion 
on the eerebral >rt of rupture, is wit nes s e d in 

cases in which the » of the brain is exposed by 

ident One is recorded in the 
Revi W No. 46. p. 366). A robust young man lost a 
considerable portion of his skull. 'When excited by 
Pain, Fear, or Anger, his brain protruded greatly, so as 
sometimes to disturb the dressings, which were neces- 
sarily applied loosely ; and it throbbed tumultuously, in 
accordance with the arterial pulsations/ In such a state 
it is easy to understand an apopletic sequence. Vaso- 
motor spasm mav also cause rupture of the vessels" 
(6:292). 

Likewise intense or disturbing emotions, and even 
centering the attention upon the heart, have a deleterious 
effect. Says Dr. Tuke: ''The direction of thought to 
the Heart has, very generally, an embarrassing influence 
upon its regular action. It is true, emotional states 



44 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

exercise a much greater and more instant influence; 
but simple attention to its* beats is usually attended by 
slight, and occasionally by painful, cardiac disturbance. 
This action of an intellectual, as distinct from an emo- 
tional, state is referred to by Sir H. Holland: 'There 
is cause to believe the action of the heart is often quick- 
ened, or otherwise disturbed, by the mere centering the 
consciousness upon it, without any emotion or anxiety. 
On occasions where its beats are audible, observation 
will give proof of this, or the physician can very often 
infer it while feeling the pulse; and where there is lia- 
bility to irregular pulsation, such action is seemingly 
brought on, or increased, by the effort of Attention, even 
though no obvious Emotion be present.' 

"Froni the same cause, medical students when their 
thoughts are directed by their studies to this organ, are 
frequently sufferers from its disturbed action. Anxiety 
no doubt comes in here to aggravate the disorder, and 
will be referred to again under Emotion. Peter Frank 
himself, even when in advanced life, is stated by Rom- 
berg to have been attacked while devoting special atten- 
tion to the subject of heart disease during the prepara- 
tion of his lectures, with such severe palpitation accom- 
panied by an intermittent pulse, that he felt assured he 
was affected with an aneurism; the symptoms only 
ceased after the completion of his labors, and after he 
had enjoyed the relaxation and diversion of a journey 
(6:109). . . . 

1 ' The late Dr. Peacock, whose large experience in dis- 
eases of the heart, made his opinion of great value, 
informed me that he had frequently observed palpita- 
tion and subsequently dilatation of the heart in women 
follow upon mental distress and other emotional in- 
fluences. He never met with a case of rupture of the 
heart from emotion. 

"Tissot asserts that dilatation of the heart and the 
aorta has been caused by Anger and Chagrin, and he 



Disorders of the Muscles 45 

refers for proof of the former to Bonnet, Morgagni, and 
others; and of the latter to Harvey, Zimmermann, etc. 
Bichat cites Desault' I that i of the 

heart and aortic aneurisms are multiplied in revolutions, 
in proportion to the evils which they produce. 

"Speaking of intermittent pulse. Dr. Richardson 
observes, 'I have never met with a case in which the 
disorder was not sequential to some anxiety, shock, fear, 
sorrow, or their similars. I with case upon 

case in which the sufferer has been able, from his own 
perception of the intermittebcy, to r the precise 

moment when the injury causing it was inflicted.' 

"It is not surprising that a1 the . when the 

worry of life and strain on tho f < ■ in all ways, are 

so vastly intei that th( strong i 

dence to show the increase of c . . 

"The disturbance of the heart's action indicated by 
syncope is a common ph< of 

emotional excitement, and it it od how 

in cases where the heart is healthy, nothing more serious 
may occur, but where it ifl I and has already 

quite enough work to perform il ombfl to any strong 

or tumultuous passion. We find as in other in- 

stances, that similar result- roduced by very oppo- 

site forms of emotion — Joy and Fear — both, however, 
agreeing in this, that they are sudden and intense M 
(6:271-2). 

To illustrate the pernicious effects of certain emotions 
upon the organs already mentioned, we cite the follow- 
ing examples : 

1. Stomach and Intcstir, 

A clergyman informs me that once, on receipt of dis- 
tressing news, he labored under spasmodic action of the 
stomach for three days, causing violent vomiting for two 
or three hours at a time. He was unable to take food 
and there was no action of the bowels (6:301). 



46 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

The often quoted experience of Van Swieten illus- 
trates the influence of an idea, apart from Imagination 
or Expectation, in exciting an act which had originally 
been excited by an impression from without. He relates 
that he once passed a dead dog in a state of putrescence, 
and the stench caused him to vomit. Having occasion 
to pass the same place, several years afterwards, the 
circumstance was so vividly recalled, that he could not 
help vomiting. Clearer proof could not be found of 
the action of a mental image, or a subjective impression 
(a foreseeing, Unzer would say) upon the muscular 
system (6:127). 

A lecturer was put to great inconvenience on one occa- 
sion by the threatened action of the bowels during the 
lecture. His Will triumphed; but ever afterwards he 
was troubled in the same way when he went to the same 
lecture-room, whatever precaution he might take, but 
not when he lectured elsewhere (6:431). 

2. Uterus 

In a case recorded by Professor Laycock, Attention 
and emotional excitement combined, brought on uterine 
pains in a female, aet. 48, who attended her daughter 
during a very tedious labor. 

Dr. Gooch records the case of a lady whom he at- 
tended, who with great difficulty was persuaded to 
marry, in consequence of an imagination that she would 
certainly die should she become pregnant. Such was 
the influence of this apprehension upon the course of the 
labor, that, in spite of all the encouragement Dr. Gooch 
gave her, it interfered with its progress in so marked 
a manner as to protract it to a period of thirty-six 
hours. . . . 

Dr. Gooch 's practical conclusion is: "In this state 
of mind we must keep up the spirits of our patient, 
both during pregnancy and at the time of labor, by 



Disorders of the Muscles 47 

anecdotes of the most favorable accouchements of those 
who have entertained equal apprehensions, and by every 
species of encouragement in our power" (6:304). 

3. Lungs 

Descuret records the case of a woman, aged 64, sub- 
ject to violent fits of passion, in one of which "her little 
eyes sparkled, her face was injected, her large jugulars 
were distended, and a violent fit of coughing brought up, 
in my presence, bloody expectoration of a bright color'' 
(6:294). 

Broussais gives the case of a lady, who, on feeling a 
living frog fall into her bosom from the claws of a bird 
of prey, while Bhe was sitting on I itly 

seized with such a profuse bleeding from the lungs, that 
she survived but a few minutes (5:188). 

4. Bra 

Numerous examples ot apoplexy occasioned by am 

are recorded both in ancient and modern works on this 
disease. Bonetus tells of a lady who, in consequence 
of a sudden fit of am. is seized with violent and 

fatal apoplexy, and in whose brain blood was found 
largely diffused (5:146V 

In the Lancet of Nov. 16, 1861 PS a good example 

of the influence of Joy succeeding Anxiety in inducing 
death, recorded by the Registrar of Preston, Lanca- 
shire. The subject was a female, aged 43, the wife of 
an overlooker. It appears that the daughter of the 
deceased was traveling by railway when a collision oc- 
curred, which caused injury to a large number of pas- 
sengers. Alarming reports concerning the accident had 
reached the mother as she was waiting at the station 
for her daughter, who soon after arrived unhurt. The 
transport of joy, supervening on a state of mental 
anxiety, was more than her physical organization could 



48 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

bear. The mother, after clasping her child in her arms, 
fell down in a fit and expired twelve hours afterwards. 
In the medical certificate the case was returned as 
"apoplexy" (6:293). 

5. Heart 

There are many interesting cases of failure of the 
heart's action from states of mind which it is not always 
easy to analyze and to decide upon as regards their 
emotional or intellectual character. . . . There is a case 
on record of a man who was sentenced to be bled to 
death. He was blindfolded, the sham operation was per- 
formed, and water allowed to run down his arm in order 
to convey the impression of blood. Thinking he was 
about to die, he did actually die. Imagination had the 
same effect as the reality (6:111). 

Tissot quotes from Water the case of a military man, 
who being about to possess the object of his desire, was 
so overjoyed that he suddenly expired. A post mortem 
examination was made and the pericardium was found 
to be distended with blood (6:273). 

The following remarks by Dr. Sweetser are especially 
appropriate in this connection: "If the extreme of joy 
follow unexpectedly an emotion of an opposite char- 
acter, the danger will be heightened. A story is recorded 
of two Roman matrons, who, on seeing their sons, whom 
they had believed to be dead, return from the famous 
battle fought between Hannibal and the Romans near 
the lake of Thrasymenus, and in which the Roman army 
was cut to pieces, passing suddenly from the deepest 
grief to the most vehement joy, instantly expired. 

"Examples have likewise happened where culprits, 
just at the point of execution, have immediately perished 
on the unexpected announcement of a pardon. We may 
hence draw the important practical lesson that the cure 
of one strong passion is seldom to be attempted by the 



Disorders of the Muscles 49 

sudden excitement of another of an opposite character. 
Violent emotions are, as a general rule, to be extin- 
guished cautiously and gradually. Rapid and extreme 
alternations of feeling, and indeed all sudden extremes, 
are repugnant to the laws, and, consequently, dangerous 
to the well-being of the animal economy. To endeavor, 
at once, to eradicate deep grief by excessive joy, is, as 
I have seen it remarked, as irrational as it would be to 
expect the restoration of a frozen limb from pouring 
upon it hot water' ' (5:129). 

The following three cases exhibit the extraordin, 
power of a strong impression and expectation, in the 
last of which at least fear appears to have played no 
part: 

Example First 

A person, calling himself a phrenologist, saw a child* 
five or six years old, playing in the street, bare headed, 
near our residence. He stopped the child, passed his 
hand over the head, terrifying the child greatly; and 
before he moved on, he said: "Poor child, you will die 
of water in the head.'' The child ran home, told his 
mother what had happened, and appeared excessively 
alarmed; inflammation of the brain speedily developed 
itself and the child died. There had been no indica- 
tion of a tendency to brain-affection beyond the fact 
that there was quick and morbid excitability — just that 
disposition on w r hich the cruel or injudicious conduct of 
the stranger was likely to be followed by the serious con- 
sequences which occurred (15:244). 

Example Second 

The effect of fearful attention on the nervous system 
has occasionally proved fatal. In the third volume of 
The Doctor a remarkable instance of this is related. 
The portrait, No. 113, in the British Museum, is of 



50 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Thomas Britton, surnamed, "The musical small-coal- 
man. " A ventriloquist, one of the company at a dinner 
party at which he was present, predicted his death that 
llight ; and such was the impression made that it actu- 
ally took place. The effects of mesmerism, of the "evil 
eye," of sorceries and incantations, are of this class. 
Thus, "the Polynesians," as Mr. Ellis states, "were 
confident that their sorcerers had the power of inflict- 
ing bodily disease from actual facts; but the sorcerers 
invariably confessed that incantations were harmless 
when practiced on Europeans," just as mesmerism is a 
failure on strong minded men and women (19:112). 

Example Third 

A lady, the daughter of Sir Charles Lee, died at the 
hour foretold by an apparition. Believers in the reality 
of ghosts will perhaps not dispute the fitness of such a 
case as an illustration in point, if we suggest that even 
a supernatural visitant might, by this principle bring 
about the event. The apparition, that of a little woman, 
appeared between her curtain and pillow at two o'clock, 
and assured her that by twelve o'clock that day she 
would be with her. "Whereupon," says the narrative, 
"she knocked for her maid, called for her clothes, and 
when she was dressed went into her closet, and came not 
out again till nine, and then brought out with her a 
letter sealed to her father, brought it to her aunt, the 
Lady Everard, told her what had happened, and de- 
clared that as soon as she was dead it might be sent to 
him. The Lady thought she was suddenly fallen mad, 
and therefore sent presently away to Chelmsford for a 
physician and surgeon, who both came immediately, but 
the physician could discern no indication of what the 
Lady imagined or of any indisposition of her body; not- 
withstanding, the Lady would needs have her let blood, 
which was done accordingly. And when the young 



Dis 51 

woman had patiently let them do what they would with 
her, she desired that the chaplain might 1 1 to 

read prayers; and when prayers were ended she took 
her guitar and psalm-book as down upon a chair 

without arms, and played and sung so melodiously and 
admirably that her music . who was then ti, 

admired at it: and Dear the stroke of tweh 
and sat herself down in a great chair with arms, and 
presently fetching a stron. thing or two, immedi- 

ately expired, and was so suddenly ueh 

wondered at by the physician and surgeon" (6:112 . 

Here again we have effects corresponding to those pro- 
duced by hypnotism or mesmerism. Speaking of 
effect of imagination and tion, Dr. Elliotc 

marks: "If a mesmeric effect has on.-.' been produced — 
an effect unquestionably of mesmeric agency — i 

not be sure when it recurs, even under 

esses, that it is do! the result of Imagination, if the 

patient is aware of mesmeric means being employed in 
order to induce it. Whether Imagination could in< ; 

a violent inflammation of the ith a s- rup- 

tion on the skin, on a certain day fixed upon by the 
patient long before, I will not say: but that the i 
of a fit of convulsions, pain, etc., occurring on a certain 
future day and hour, is sufficient to excite it at the v 
time foretold, I have no doubt ; and many such apparent 
predictions are of this nature and no predictions at all, 
but results of a strong Imagination'' (6:381). 

Says Wilkinson: "We have not to batter the human 
body to pieces in order to destroy it, but an artistic prick 
— a bare bodkin — under the fifth rib, lets out the life 
entire. Nay, had we neater skill of deadliness, a word 
would do it" (9:441). 



CHAPTER III 

The Relation of the Mind to Disorders of the 
Organic Functions 

Dr. Tuke, alluding to the mind as manifested under 
the aspects of intellect and emotion, asserts that it may 
"powerfully excite, modify, or suspend the Organic 
Functions, causing changes in nutrition, secretion, and 
excretion, and thereby affecting the development and 
maintenance of the body" (6:129, 305). Evidently in 
so far as the subject under consideration has to do with 
the flow of the Secretions and Excretions and of the 
Blood, we are dealing also with the relation of the mind 
to the Involuntary Muscles, which formed the closing 
topic of the preceding chapter. 

I. The Secretions and Excretions 

1. Changes in Their Flow 

Bernheim quotes Charpignon as saying, "When I 
think of an acid fruit, I represent to myself an apple 
yielding under a, knife, or being crushed by my teeth; 
my mouth waters, and I experience a sensation almost 
as distinct as if the object itself had been the cause of 
it" (17:133). Likewise Dr. Tuke observc3: "The 
salivary glands are so notably affected by ideas that they 
are frequently referred to. We know that the mere 
idea of food is sufficient to excite the functions of these 
glands. To procure sufficient saliva for his experiments, 
Eberle vividly imagined acid fruits. If a teaspoonful 
of colored water be placed in the mouth under the im- 
pression that it is tincture of pellitory, the amount of 

52 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 53 

saliva will be considerably increased. In the hypnotic 
state this would be still more effective ,, (6:132). 

Here we have illustrations showing how certain mental 
states may cause an increase in the flow of this secre- 
tion. There are, however, other conceptions which have 
just the opposite effect. Dr. Sweetser, speaking of 
anger, remarks that " under its influence the saliva 
becomes diminished, and consequently inspissated, 
whence its frothy whiteness, and adl ss, and the 

frequent swallowing under its action" (5:149). Like- 
wise it is quite common for orators and musicians to 
experience a dryness of the mouth and throat just be- 
fore beginning to speak or sing, especially on great 
occasions. Moreover, Dr. Carpent* r I - that "vio- 

lent emotions may suspend the salivary secretion ; as 
is shown by the well-known test, often resorted to in 
India for the discovery of a thief among the servants 
of a family, — that of compelling all the parties to hold 
a certain quantity of rice in the mouth during a : 
minutes, — the offender being generally distinguished by 
the comparative dryness of his mouthful at the end of 
the experiment" (11:858). 

Furthermore, as regards the gastric juice, Dr. Tuke 
asserts: "The secretion of gastric juice is increased by 
the idea of eating, as proved by experiments on men and 
dogs with gastric fistulae" (6:133). 

As in the case of the saliva, other mental states result 
in a decrease of the flow of this secretion. For exam- 
ple, there was at one time brought to Dr. Beaumont, 
who was a surgeon in the U. S. Navy during the early 
part of the nineteenth century, a young man who had 
received a very severe injury in the stomach by the dis- 
charge of a musket only a few feet away. By skilful 
medical treatment he succeeded in healing the wound, 
which left an "aperture of about two and a half inches 
in diameter, through which could be witnessed the 
process of digestion." This remarkable circumstance 



54 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

enabled him to ascertain how long it would take to 
digest many different kinds of food, which has proved 
of great value to medical science. In connection with 
these experiments he perceived "that anger or other 
severe mental emotions would sometimes cause its 
mucous, or lining coat, to become morbidly red, dry, and 
irritable, occasioning, at the same time, a temporary fit 
of indigestion" (5:149). 

Referring to the gastric juice, Dr. Tuke observes: 
"In dyspepsia, which constitutes so forcible an illustra- 
tion of the influence of abnormal mental conditions, a 
change in the character or amount of this secretion, 
may or may not be the principal cause, but that morbid 
feelings acting directly on the stomach through the 
pneumogastric and sympathetic nerves, do form one 
important element in the psychical genesis of the dismal 
svmptoms comprised under this term, cannot admit of 
doubt" (6:327-8). 

Hence we see that dyspepsia can be caused in either 
of two ways : It may be due, in the first place, to there 
having been received within the stomach too large a 
quantity of food, hard to digest, unsuitable to eat, or 
improperly prepared. But, on the other hand, no mat- 
ter how suitable one's food may be, how well it has been 
cooked, how easy it is of being digested, or how small a 
quantity has been received within the stomach, if there 
be a mental state which has caused a cessation in the 
flow of the saliva and especially of the gastric juice, 
then, inasmuch as according to the teaching of all our 
physiologists, these secretions are absolutely indispensa- 
ble to carry on properly the process of digestion, dys- 
pepsia must inevitably follow. Moreover, is it not very 
evident that where one person suffers from indigestion 
because of improper food, nine and perhaps ninety -nine 
suffer from it in consequence of inharmonious mental 
states? This principle in regard to the increase and 
decrease in the flow of the saliva and gastric juice under 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 55 

the influence of mental impressions evidently applies 
equally well to all the secretions and excretions through- 
out the entire body. 

2. Changes in Their Composition 

Thus far in our treatment of this topic we have con- 
fined our attention to a discussion of the effect of the 
mind in changing the quantity or flow of the various 
secretions and excretions. We now proceed to in 
tigate the power in Btatefl of consciousness to change 
their chemical composition as well. 

Liebig, the renowned German physician and chemist, 
laid down the following fundamental law or principle: 
"Every conception, every mental affection is followed 
by changes in the chemical nature of the secreted fluids" 
(6:135). Proof of this statement is based on inferences 
drawn from changes in their color and odor, from 

their chemical analysis, and from changes in their effects. 

1. Changes in Their Color, Taste and Odor 

Gaubius, who was a professor of medicine and chem- 
istry in the University of Leyden, having declared ''that 
the natural properties of the juices may be so altered 
that, with astonishing rapidity, the bland becomes acrid, 
and the salubrious hurtful — nay, virulent" — asks, "Do 
you doubt it? I give you the example of an hysterical 
woman who, in a passion, vomits vitiated bile of every 
color and acridity" (6:329). Gaubius had noticed that 
the bile vomited up by this woman was changed in its 
color and taste. If so, then it must have been changed 
in its chemical nature. Moreover, so far as he can ascer- 
tain this change has not been brought about by any 
substance received into the body. Furthermore, he has 
observed that always, just before she vomits up this bile, 
she has gone into a state of intense passion. And, inas- 
much as this has occurred time and again, he comes to 



56 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

the conclusion that this disturbed mental state cannot be 
a mere coincidence but must be the real cause of this 
effect which he has witnessed. Likewise, a like change 
had been observed to occur in connection with other 
secretions and excretions of the body under similar cir- 
cumstances, as is evident from the following statements : 

"The action of mental anxiety or suspense (not 
fright) in causing a copious discharge of pale fluid is' 
familiar enough to all, especially to the medical student 
about to present himself for examination, the amount 
being in a pretty direct ratio to his fear of being plucked. 
. . . The odor may be affected by the emotions, in man 
as in animals" (6:324). 

"The character of the urine . . . among many ani- 
mals . . . acquires a powerfully disagreeable odor un- 
der the influence of fear, and thus answers the purpose 
which is effected in others by a peculiar secretion" 
(11:859). 

"The halitus from the Lungs is sometimes almost 
instantaneously affected by bad news, so as to produce 
fetid breath' ' (11:859). 

"Whatever injuries the blood may have received from 
the passions of the mind, which as we know have all 
power to bless or to hurt it, are palliated by the removal 
of clouds of exhalations, as witness the odor of the 
breath" (9:83). 

"In low animal passions the sweat is hircine, to suit 
the goat who owns it" (9:306). 

' * The odoriferous secretion of the Skin, which is much 
more powerful in some individuals than in others, is 
increased under the influence of certain mental emo- 
tions (as fear or bashfulness), and commonly also by 
sexual desire" (11:859). 

"Two circumstances, noteworthy in many cases of 
insanity, were marked in the case under consideration; 
these were, the peculiar indescribable odor of the 
patient — the bouquet des malades of lunatic wards — 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 57 

and the intensely offensive character of the intestinal 
excretions. Manifestly there is some unknown chemical 
change produced in the excretory functions by the pro- 
found nervous disturbance, not otherwise than as secre- 
tions are observably altered in composition by passion' ' 
(21:344). 

"The secretion of the lachrymal glands is, we know, 
excited by joy (and tender emotions) as well as by 
grief, its natural excitant. . . . The quality of the 
secretion seems to be altered by powerful emotions, the 
saline ingredients being increased, causing 'a strong 
brine' " (6:334-5). 

"The milk of a nurse, affected with anger, immedi- 
ately acquires an unpleasant taste, and becomes injurious 
to the child" (18:419). 

2. Changes in Their Chemical Anal} 

The Medical Times and Gazitic for October 10, 1868, 
gives a list of experiments carried on by Dr. Byasson, 
all of which go to show that our states of consciousness 
are continually causing changes in the chemical com- 
position of the fluids oi* the body. In this article Dr. 
Byasson goes so far as to affirm that by the analysis of 
the urine he can tell "whether a man has passed the day 
in repose, or active thought, or muscular action, sup- 
posing the diet to have been uniform, and the external 
conditions similar during three days so employed" 
(6:135). Likewise experiments made by Dr. Prout, 
Dr. Sutherland and others go to confirm the results 
obtained by Dr. Byasson (see 6:324-5). 

Dr. Tuke observes: "Dr. Prout, in his Stomach and 
Renal Diseases, states that the depressing passions, par- 
ticularly Anxiety or Fear, will in many predisposed 
individuals cause a deposition of the triple phosphates 
in the urine. In adducing proof that the functional 
activity of the nervous tissues causes its disintegration 



58 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

by the agency of oxygen (in the blood), Dr. Carpenter 
refers to the increase of alkaline phosphates in the 
urine after much wear of mind, whether emotional or 
intellectual, and alludes to 'more than one case of this 
kind occurring among young men, whose anxiety for 
distinction had induced them to go through an excessive 
amount of intellectual labor during their student life, 
and who found themselves forced to pay the penalty of 
that excess in a subsequent prolonged abstinence from 
all mental occupation involving the slightest degree of 
effort.' It is impossible to say in such cases how much 
of the cause is emotional and how much purely intel- 
lectual" (6:324). 

3. Changes in Their Effects 

This power in certain mental states to change the 
secretions of the body is not new, but has been known 
by medical men for a long time. Miiller observes: "We 
are acquainted with the changes produced in the com- 
position of secretions, in consequence of affections of 
the nervous system, rather by their injurious effects, — 
for instance, by the effects of milk and bile secreted, 
after the mind has been the subject of violent emotions, 
— than by any chemical examination to which they have 
been subjected" (2: vol. 1, 473). 

On this point we quote the following from Dr. Tuke : 
"In the Lancet for July 14, 1860, is the report of the 
case of a boy, aet. 9*^, who was bitten by a boy in anger. 
There was no evidence of rabies, but the boy died. He 
was seized with hydrophobia forty-eight days after the 
bite, and died in twenty-four hours. Trousseau quotes 
from Van Swieten, the case of a young man who died of 
rabies after having bitten his own finger in a fit of 
anger. Also that of an old woman who died with all the 
symptoms of rabies after she had received a wound from 
a cock in a passion. . . . Gaubius records several cases. 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 59 

A soldier quarrelled with a woman, who thereupon bit 
his hand. He was seized with rigors and died. An 
enraged Italian youth, unable to revenge himself, bit 
his own hand and was seized with a deadly fear of water, 
as if bitten by a rabid dog" (6:326-7). 

Equally convincing is the evidence derived from the 
effects of disturbed mental states upon the secretion of 
milk. "There is evidence/' says Dr. Carpenter, "that 
the Mammary secretion may acquire an actually poison- 
ous character, under the influence of violent mental ex- 
citement. ... 'A Carpentrr fell into a quarrel with 
a Soldier billeted in his house, and was set upon by 
the latter with his drawn sword. The wife of the ( 
penter at first trembled from fear and terror, and then 
suddenly threw herself furiously between the com- 
batants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, 
broke it in pieces, and threw it away. During the 
tumult, some neighbors came in and separated the men. 
While in this state of strong excitement, the mother 
took up her child from the cradle, where i1 lay playing, 
and in the most perfect health, never having had a 
moment's illness it the l in so doing 

sealed its fate. In a few minutes the infant left off 
sucking, became restless, panted, and sank dead upon 
its mother's bosom. The physician who was instantly 
called in found the child lying in the cradle, as if asleep, 
and with its features undisturbed ; but all his resources 
were fruitless. It was irrevocably gone.' In this inter- 
esting case, the milk must have undergone a change 
which gave it a powerful sedative action upon the sus- 
ceptible nervous system of the infant" (11:861). 

Likewise Dr. Kellogg of Port Hope, Canada West, 
relates the following case : "Not long since, I was called 
to see a child aged seven or eight months, which up to a 
short time before my being sent for, had been in a most 
thriving condition, exceedingly healthy and robust. I 
found the child in a state approaching complete coma, 



60 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

in a condition much resembling that which results from 
hydrocephalus, or anaemia of the brain, as the result of 
some exhausting disease. It had suffered none such, 
however, and as the coma had come on suddenly, con- 
stipation of the bowels only having been observed as its 
forerunner, I felt puzzled to determine the true cause. 
After, however, a free action of the bowels, for which 
large doses of cathartic medicine were required, it 
rapidly regained its consciousness, and after passing 
dark green stools for a number of days completely recov- 
ered. The mystery which shrouded this case, and which 
I was not able to unravel at first, was soon, however, 
explained, for in conversation with a near neighbor I 
learned that the mother, who was a woman of very 
violent temper, had for a number of days been giving 
way to the most intense paroxysms of rage, which had 
been expended upon her husband for selling a piece of 
property against her wishes. During all this time she 
was nursing her child. I immediately requested the 
mother, if she wished to rear her offspring, of which 
she was passionately fond, to suspend nursing it under 
such a state of mental excitement; and if she could not 
make up her mind to be quiet and cheerful, it would be 
advisable to wean the child, or employ a wet nurse, 
while giving the reins to her passion, and not allow its 
force to be expended upon the frail being who was inno- 
cently drawing its nourishment from her bosom. She 
appeared to feel the justice of the reproof, and was, 
doubtless, more careful for the future, as the child did 
well, though not weaned for several months after the 
occurrence' ' (6:333-4). 

"I am confident/' Dr. Kellogg observes, "that I have 
frequently seen the death of the nursing infant result 
from ignorance of the mother of the extraordinary in- 
fluence of mental emotion upon the secretion of milk" 
(6:333-4). 



Disorders of the Organic P 61 

II. Tin: Blood 

1. Chang 

Remarking on the phenomena of extravasation 
inflammation Dr. Till; "Increased macula 

under the influence of Emotion, chiefly when sud 
frequently causes i m or rupture of the ffl 

blood vessels. Such cases must not, of course, be con- 
founded with those in which violent contraction of the 
voluntary muscles occasions injury to * em- 

bedded in their tissue, am' [uent effusion of blood. 

As vascularity, whether with or without extravasation 
of blood, forms one of the promin is of inflamma- 

tion, it follows that the Qlustl n will more or 

less merge into examples of an inflammatory condition 
of the part, attended by swelling, tender 
In all, however, the influence of mental - pon the 

blood vessels is exhibited 91 (6:285). 

Likewise Dr. Carpenter, having declared that "Th< 
is abundant evidence that a Hidden and violent 
ment of some depressing Emotion, especially Terror, 
may produce a severe and even a fatal disturbance of 
the Organic functions," presents B "remarkable exam- 
ple of local disorder of nutrition, occasioned by pov 
ful emotion, and determined as to its seat by the intense 
direction of the attention to a particular part of the 
body," related by Mr. Carter. It runs as follows: "A 
lady, who was watching her little child at play, saw a 
heavy window-sash fall upon its hand, cutting off three 
of the fingers; and she was so much overcome by fright 
and distress as to be unable to render it any assistance. 
A surgeon was speedily obtained, who, having dressed 
the wounds, turned himself to the mother, whom he 
found seated, moaning, and complaining of pain in her 
hand. On examination, three fingers, corresponding to 
those injured in the child, were discovered to be swollen 



62 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

and inflamed, although they had ailed nothing prior to 
the accident. In four-and-twenty hours incisions were 
made into them, and pus was evacuated; sloughs were 
afterwards discharged, and the wounds ultimately 
healed" (11:862-3). 

A vivid idea or impression in a dream also could pro- 
duce like effects. For example, "A man, thirty years 
of age, healthy and robust, saw in a dream a Pole with 
a stone in his hand, which he threw at his breast. The 
vivid shock awoke him, and then he found that there 
was on his chest a round mark, having the appearance 
of a bruise. Next day there was so much swelling, etc., 
that a surgeon was requested to see it, who, fearing a 
slough, scarified the part, and relieved it. The wound 
healed in a short time" (6:286). 

Corresponding results can be readily produced by 
hypnotic methods, as is evident from the following 
experiments related by Bernheim in his Suggestive 
Therapeutics: "Finally, hemorrhages and bloody stig- 
mata may be induced in certain subjects by means of 
suggestion. 

"M. M. Bourru and Burot of Rochefort have experi- 
mented on this subject with a young marine, a case of 
hystero-epilepsy. M. Bourru put him into the somnam- 
bulistic condition, and gave him the following sugges- 
tion : ' At four o'clock this afternoon, after the hypnosis, 
you will come into my office, sit down in the armchair, 
cross your arms upon your breast, and your nose will 
begin to bleed. ' At the hour appointed the young man 
did as directed. Several drops of blood came from the 
left nostril. 

"On another occasion the same investigator traced 
the patient's name on both his forearms with the dull 
point of an instrument. Then, when the patient was in 
the somnambulistic condition, he said: 'At four o'clock 
this afternoon you will go to sleep, and your arms will 



Disorders of tJu 

bleed along the lines which I have traced, and your name 
will appear written on your arms is letters of blood.' 
He w r as watched at four o'clock and seen to fall asl< 
On the left arm the letters stood out in bright lief, 

and in several places there were drops of blood. The 
letters were still visible three months afterwards, al- 
though they had grown gradually faint" (17:76). 

Speaking of the effect of the mind upon the flow of 
the blood Dr. Tuke remarks: "The singular phenomena 
of Stigmata may be fittingly referred to here, for so 
far as they are genuine and not caused by mechanical 
irritation, they arise from the mind's influence on the 
capillary circulation through ti -motor ihty. b. No 

one has treated the subject in a more luminous manner 
than M. Alfred Maury, who forcibly oh- that 

ecstatic mysticism, including these remarkal -ar- 

ances, is 'the most striking proof of the u the 

Imagination upon the body, and is truly a miracle, in 
the sense of being one of those marvelous effects of the 
laws of thought whose secret escapes and whose extent 
confounds us.' He admits the fact of somatization 
(after making the allowance he eonsi ary for 

imposture and exaggeration), and explains its occur- 
rence, so far at least as th< of the phenomena 
to a certain group of psycho-physical facts may be re- 
garded as an explanation, by a consideration of the 
influence of dreams upon the skin. In mentioning those 
cases in which persons have dreamed that they received 
blows or wounds, and in the morning have found marks 
of inflammation on the body, and which sometimes, in 
the course of a day or two, become ulcers, he observes 
that 'just so with visionaries, under the power of the 
Imagination, by the concentration of the Attention, the 
blood is directed to the place where they fancy they are 
affected. ' 

"M. Maury's description of the experience of St. 



64 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Francis (TAssisi, whom he regards as the ancestor of 
the stigmatized, is much to the purpose. We shall make 
free use of it here. One day when exhausted by fast, 
and absorbed in reverie and prayer, he imagined that 
God ordered him to open the Gospels in order that he 
might there learn his will. 'Open me the Holy Book,' 
he exclaimed to a friar. Three times was this done, and 
three times it opened at the account of the Saviour's 
passion. St. Francis regarded this as a proof that he 
must carry his imitation of Christ much further than he 
had hitherto done. Bodily mortification he had doubt- 
less practised, and had crucified his desires, but he had 
not yet subjected his body to the sufferings of the cross, 
the penance now evidently required by the Almighty. 
One thought, one definite idea, henceforth occupied him 
« — his Master's crucifixion. His Imagination revelled, 
so to speak, in all His sufferings. He strove, while 
fasting more and more, and praying more and more 
intensely, to realize them himself. On the anniversary 
of the Exaltation of the Cross, resigning himself more 
than ever to one of these ecstatic contemplations, he 
imagined he saw an angel descend from the vault of 
heaven and approach him, the hands and feet attached 
to a cross. As St. Francis contemplated this vision, full 
of profound delight and astonishment, the seraph sud- 
denly vanished. But the pious anchorite experienced 
from this spectacle a strange reaction, and his whole 
system was more than ever permeated with the idea of 
the realization of the physical sufferings of Christ in 
his own person. He then suffered pain in his hands and 
feet, and this, we are told, was succeeded by inflamma- 
tion so severe as to terminate in ulceration. These 
wounds he regarded as the stigmata of the Saviour's 
passion. 

"It might not be safe to take this or any other saintly 
narration as a proof of so remarkable an influence upon 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 65 

the body, but when viewed by the light of facts coming 
within our own knowledge, we have, I think, no suffi- 
cient reason for rejecting the major portion of such an 
experience as this. So clearly defined an idea, so ardent 
a faith intensifying its operation, were sufficient to re- 
flect it upon the body. We may accept some physical 
result, instead of soiling the fair fame of St. Francis 
d'Assisi with the charge of pious fraud — always an easy 
escape from scientific difficulties, but one which, we 
venture to say, will be less and less resorted to as the 
sole explanation of puzzling phenomena as we under- 
stand better the delicate nexus which unites body and 
mind in inseparable union. 

"The periodicity of stigmata is a further interesting 
illustration of the influence of attention and imagina- 
tion upon the direction and localization of the cutane- 
ous circulation. On saints' days and on Fridays the 
seat of the marks became more painful and a brighn r 
color indicated a fresh influx of blood to the part, the 
mystic's thoughts being specially concentrated upon the 
passion. 

"Since the first edition of this book was published, 
the case of Louise Lateau, the \Stigmatisee' of Bois- 
d'Haine Hainaut, Belgium, a young woman of twenty- 
four at the time when the appearances here described 
were recorded, has attracted much notice. The Royal 
Academy of Medicine of Belgium appointed a Commis- 
sion to decide whether an article by ML Carbonnier, en- 
titled 'La maladie des mystiques: Louise Lateau/ should 
appear in one of the Academy's publications. This 
Commission, consisting of M. M. Fossion (who did not 
act), Mascart, and Warlomont, deemed it necessary, in 
order to form a satisfactory opinion, to examine Louise 
herself. The report of this medical Commission, en- 
gaged for five months in the investigation, is the best 
authority we are likely to have as to the real facts of 



66 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

the case. Is it a fact that she manifested the stigmata ? 
If she did, what is the explanation arrived at by the 
Commission ? Does it accord with the principles applied 
to the explanation of other phenomena detailed in this 
work ? 

4 ' It should be premised that from her infancy Louise 
was constantly given up to religious exercises. . . . One 
night, April 15, 1868, she fell into a state of ecstasy, and 
continually talked in a religious strain. She saw the 
Virgin and several of the saints. This condition lasted 
till the 21st, and was followed by the appearance of 
the stigmata. Blood oozed from the left side on Fri- 
day the 24th, it returned on the Friday following, when 
blood also transuded from the feet ; and on the following 
week from the palms of the hands likewise. Lastly, on 
the following Fridays, these hemorrhages returned, until 
September 25th, when, for the first time, blood flowed 
similarly from the forehead. The attack, as it is called, 
lasted at first seven or eight hours, but at the time of 
the Commission only two hours and a half. While it 
lasted, Louise ' became insensible to all external stimuli, 
appeared to be present at the drama of Golgotha, and 
revealed by a well-marked mimicry the emotions by 
which her mind was affected. ' . . . 

4 'The conclusion arrived at as regards these ecstacies 
and stigmata was that simulation was altogether pre- 
cluded. ' The stigmata and the ecstacies are real. They 
can be explained physiologically.' " (6:114-19). 

Commenting on phenomena of this sort Dr. Tuke ob- 
serves: "It may at first sight seem an extraordinary, 
almost incredible, thing that the action of the emotions 
should produce congestion in any clearly circumscribed 
spot, that spot being determined by the direction of the 
thoughts at the moment; but facts of the same kind, 
though less striking in their results, are familiar to all. 
Thus, no one would regard it as remarkable that on 



Disord* rs of the Organir ions 67 

picturing oneself in a dangerous position — the foot, 
for instance, caught in a man-trap — the limb should 
start spasmodically, or experience a sensation of dis- 
comfort or actual pain. Yet so simple a phenomenon in- 
volves the same principle as the more striking effect — 
the localization of thought or emotion in the body, indi- 
cated by some external signs more or less marked accord- 
ing to the age, sex, constitution, or health. . . . 

"We may observe that the fundamental principle 
upon which the class of phenomena now under consid- 
eration depends is this: that the mere circumstance of 
thinking of any part of the body, what be the 

exciting cause, tends to augment the local afflux of blood, 
and innervation. Motion or sensation, or both, occur 
in the locality to which the thou. ted; but 

this effect is greatly intensified if i nied by a 

powerful emotion" (6:287-8). 

Likewise the following comments of Dr. Carpenter 
on phenomena of this kind are equally explicit: "There 
is to the Writer's mind . . . nothing either incredible 
or miraculous in the numeron- rded cases of 'so- 

matization,' i. e. $ the appear;: wounds upon the 

hands and feet, on the forehead, and on the side, — cor- 
responding with those of the crucified Jesus, — from 
which blood has periodically flowed. The subjects of 
these cases were mostly 'Eestatics. ' i. e. f females of 
strongly emotional temperament, who fell into a state 
of profound Reverie in which their minds were entirely 
engrossed by the contemplation of their Saviour's suf- 
fering, with an intense direction of their sympathetic 
attention to his several wounds. And the power which 
this state of Mind would have on the local action of the 
corresponding parts of their own bodies, gives a definite 
Physiological rationale for what some persons accept as 
genuine miracles, and others repudiate as the tricks of 
imposture' ' (30:688-9). 



68 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

3. Changes in Its Composition 

Says Dr. Tuke : ' ' Persistent morbid feelings may act 
directly upon the character of the blood, and the blood 
thus changed may affect the sensory nerves, and produce 
innumerable subjective sensations. . . . The circulation 
of the blood, also, as well as its composition, is so much 
affected by emotional impulses, that from this cause 
likewise arise altered sensations, whether exaggerated 
or deadened (6:157). . . . 

" Those who explain everything by the varying cal- 
ibre of the blood vessels, would fully admit that mental 
states influence, not only the amount of the blood in a 
vessel during a given period of time, but also thereby 
its chemical composition. . . . That changes in the 
chemistry of the blood may, however, be produced in a 
more direct manner is, to say the least, very probable" 
(6:306-7). 

The following statement by Wilkinson is even more 
emphatic: "Our morbid states of mind have the effect 
of true poisons upon the body, each having a patholog- 
ical history of its own" (9:454). 

Moreover, Hinton is even more explicit on this point. 
Says he: "It may not be amiss to remark that the 
morally good emotions are more healthful than the con- 
trary ones. Selfishness, cruelty, jealousy, rage, are slow 
poisons to the blood; all that produce happiness are 
cordials" (12:30). 

Equally decisive is the following statement by Dr. 
Gorton : i l The exercise of agreeable emotions and ideas 
is highly salutary on the general health and circulation ; 
while painful emotions are well known not only to 
destroy the physiological poise and equilibrium, but to 
actually poison the blood and secretions as effectually as 
the absorption of malaria or medicinal and toxical 
agents" (32:22). 



Disorders of the Organic Fin 69 

The eff< ilting from injecting the blood o: 

person into the blood of another points in this 

same direction. Says Dr. .Moore: "At one time, such 
immense and marvelous consequent d from 

the practice of transfusion, as plainly indicated the most 
unreasonable ignorance of physiology in those who pro- 
fessed to teach it. Patients and their physicians, with 
equally unwise expectations. I knitted to tnnf 

sion. They generally experi violent pulsations, with 

vehement increase of heat, profuse perspiration- 
pains in the stomach and loins, with a sense of suffoca- 
tion, of course, associated with corresponding mental 
states. Excessive vomiting sometimes occurred, which 
calmed the turbulence and v. 1 by profound 

sleep. These facts only show that the blood of one i 
may be poisonous to anoth I that the whole consti- 

tution of each being is individual, each part being con- 
sistent with the totality" 33: 228). 

That the blood of one person would prove poisonous 
to another we should naturally expect from the effect 
of mental states on the healing of wounds. On this 
point Dr. Sweetser remarks: "It is well known to ev 
observant physician that fractious patients, other cir- 
cumstances being the same, recover less promptly and 
are more exposed to relapses than those who bear their 
Bufferings with more composure and resignation. And 
equally familiar is it to the surgeon that under a bad 
state of temper wounds heal less kindly, and when re- 
cently healed will even at times break out afresh; like- 
wise, that external inflammations pass less safely and 
regularly through their restorative processes and that 
the pus of abcesses may be speedily transformed from a 
healthy to a morbid condition under such unfriendly 
moral agency" (5:154-5). 

Furthermore, if the mental state be very intense it 
may cause instantaneous death. For example : 



70 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

John Hunter relates the case of a man who, having 
gone into a fit of passion, died instantly and whose 
blood was found to be in a fluid or watery state (see 
105-6). Likewise Dr. Wilks, in an article in the 
ieal Times and Gazette for Feb. 1, 1868, observes: 
"We hear sometimes of fear turning the whole mass of 
the blood. I believe this is literally correct. I have 
seen now so many cases of anaemia, some of them fatal, 
occurring upon a severe shock of the nervous system 
that I have no doubt of the fact" (6:306). 

In speaking of hydrophobia Romberg remarks: "The 
ordinary vehicle is the saliva or mucus from the mouth 
of rabid dogs; but Hertwig has shown, in his excellent 
contributions to knowledge of the canine madness, that 
unmixed saliva, taken from the salivary duct, portions 
of the salivary glands laid upon a wounded surface, and, 
lastly, the blood itself, venous and arterial, are capable 
of communicating the infection" (29: vol. II, 142). 

If, as all our physiologists hold, the secretions are 
built up from the blood, then is it not practically cer- 
tain that those mental states which poison the saliva 
and the milk must also poison all the secretions and 
excretions of the body and also the blood as well? The 
following remarks of Dr. Carpenter on this point are 
worthy of the most careful consideration: "There is 
abundant evidence that a sudden and violent excitement 
of some depressing emotion, especially terror, may pro- 
duce a severe and even a fatal disturbance of the organic 
functions; with general symptoms (as Guislain has re- 
marked) so strongly resembling those of sedative poison- 
ing as to make it highly probable that the blood is 
directly affected by the emotional state through nervous 
agency; and, in fact, the emotional alteration of the 
secretions seems much more probably attributable to 
some such affection of the Blood than to a primary dis- 
turbance of the secreting process itself" (30:68). 



Disorders of the Organic 71 

III. The Effect Upon Xttkiti 

If the conclusions of these medical writers are cor- 
rect, they are doub* explanation why various very 
depressing mental Btat so potent in destroying 
the physical organism and causing almost instantaneous 

ih. Dr. Tuke asserts: "If nutrition only oc- 
when the vital force is more powerful than the opposing 
chemical forces, whatever in mental action lowers vital- 
ity will proportionately interfere with nutritive proc- 
i" (6:136). 

That a disturbed state of mind may seriously inter- 

e with the process of nutrition and even result in 
death is very e uiet of 

mind, which ifl also a species of often prbdn 

very distressing A gentleman living in a subur- 

ban village ly ill: I iture of 

his disease was irritability of the stomach. The ordi- 
nary medical attendant, and the family physieian, 
and the second physician in eonsultation, pre- 
scribed in vain, and it could not be ascertained on 
what the continual tendency to vomiting depended. 
After some days the partner waited on one of these 
physicians, and having heard from him the obscurity 
of the cause, and the ur of the danger, hinted 

that the patient's affairs were embarrassed, although 
it was not yet known to his connections, or even 
to his family. This information threw the required light 
upon the first and maintaining cause of the affection" 
(15:271). 

A much more impressive and convincing example is 
the following from Medical Essays by Mr. J. H. Sealy : 
"Returning from a professional visit late one evening, 
I was met by a medical friend who begged me to see 
with him a gentleman whom we both had previously well 
known, stating that he was in a deplorable state and 
wished to see me. I at once consented and we walked 



7l! Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

on together. 'You have, of course,' said he, 'heard of 
his unfortunate accident.' I said I had heard some 
vague reports of his having shot some gentleman ac- 
cidentally. 'Alas,' said he, 'that was not all. You must 
remember him, one of the handsomest young men in the 
University.' I said, 'Yes.' 'Wait until you see him now; 
he is truly a victim to mental distress; his form is re- 
duced to a skeleton, and his strength scarce that of an 
infant's. The circumstances are these: He was spend- 
ing the shooting season at his uncle's, in shire, 

when his cousin, to whom he was much attached, about 
his own age, and an only child, irritated him by some 
frivolous remarks while on a shooting excursion; words 
ran high on both sides, and they being only attended by 
a little boy of ten years old, who could not interfere, a 
struggle ensued, in which the poor victim we are going 
to see shot his cousin on the spot. He then returned, 
scarce conscious that he did so, to his uncle's house, 
detailed the events, from the effect of which within a 
month he saw his uncle and aunt carried to their graves, 
while he exists a miserable wreck, soon to follow them.' 

' ' Such as he was described I found him : his hand was 
hot and feverish; his cheek pale and withered, and his 
frame a perfect skeleton ; his voice was deep and hollow ; 
and his expression agonized and wretched, yet he com- 
plained of nothing. It was clear that his nervous cir- 
culation was suspended; yet his thinking principle was 
awake and consciousness alive. The mental or nervous 
stimulant was withdrawn, having by the shock of the 
accident been directed into another channel, which was 
necessary to keep in activity the animal functions, and 
a general stagnation ensued, until exhausted nature 
sank from inanition" (6:311-12). 

What, then, has killed three perfectly healthy people 
inside of only a few weeks ? Is it any substance received 
into the body % Evidently not. They have had the same 
food to eat and the same air to breathe that they have 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 73 

always had and that their friends have had. What, then, 
has produced such fatal results? Evidently they are due 
to mental states. But is it conceivable that mental 
states have killed three perfectly healthy people in so 
short a time without having produced any effects upon 
the physical organism? Is not such a conclusion per- 
fectly preposterous and absurd? If, however, the tes- 
timony of these medical writers be true, the i 
grief and remorse into which these persons were thrown 
would not only change the flow and the chemical nature 
of the secretions and of the blood, but also affect them 
in such a way as to render them absolutely poisonous, 
thereby sending poison throughout the whole physical 
organism. Nor should we overlook the fact that in 
cases of this kind the most potent medicines avail noth- 
ing, and that they could be multiplied to an almost un- 
limited extent. 

The following quotations from Dr. Carpenter reveal 
the pernicious effect of discordant states of consciousness 
not only upon the living but upon the unborn as well : 
"A fixed belief that a mortal disease has seized upon the 
frame or that a particular operation or system of treat- 
ment would prove unsuccessful, has been in numerous 
instances (there is no reason to doubt) the direct cause 
of a fatal result. Thus M. Ridard relates the case of 
a man, thirty years of age, who was affected with stone 
in the bladder, and who saw a patient die by his side, 
after being operated upon for the same complaint. The 
man's imagination became excited; his thoughts were 
constantly fixed upon the operation which he himself 
expected to undergo, and upon the probable death that 
would follow; and, in fact, without any operation at all, 
he died at the end of a month, affected with gangrene 
both of penis and scrotum. Hence also it is, that the 
morbid feelings of the Hypochondriac, who is constantly 
directing his attention to his own fancied ailments, tend 
to induce real disorder in the action of the organs which 



74 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

are supposed to be affected. — In the same category, too, 
may be placed those instances (to which alone any value 
is to be attached), wherein a strong and persistent im- 
pression upon the mind of a Mother has appeared to 
produce a corresponding effect upon the development of 
the fetus in utero. In this case, the effect (if admitted 
to be really exerted) must be produced upon the mater- 
nal blood and transmitted through it to the foetus; 
since there is no nervous communication between the 
parent and the offspring. There is no difficulty, how- 
ever, in understanding how this may occur after what 
has been already stated of the influence of minute al- 
terations in the Blood, in determining local alterations 
of nutrition (11:864). . . . 

"When it is borne in mind that during the entire 
period of gestation the Embryo is deriving its nutriment 
exclusively from. the blood of the Mother, and that the 
condition of this fluid in relation to her own processes 
of Nutrition and Secretion, is subject to a very marked 
influence from her own mental states, it cannot fairly 
be thought improbable, that the developmental processes 
of the Embryo should be powerfully affected by strong 
Emotional excitement on her part. Among the facts 
of this case, there is, perhaps, none more striking than 
that quoted by Dr. A. Combe from Baron Percy, as 
having occurred after the siege of Landau in 1793. In 
addition to a violent cannonading, which kept the women 
for some time in a constant state of alarm, the arsenal 
blew up with a terrific explosion, which few could hear 
with unshaken nerves. Out of 92 children born in that 
district within a few months afterwards, Baron Percy 
states that 16 died at the instant of birth ; 33 languished 
for from 8 to 10 months, and then died ; 8 became idiotic, 
and died before the age of 5 years ; and 2 came into the 
world with numerous fractures of the bones of the 
limbs, probably caused by irregular uterine contractions. 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 75 

Here then is a total of 57 children out of 92, or within 
a trifle of 2 out of every 3, actually killed through the 
medium of the Mother's alarm, and the natural conse- 
quences upon her own organization; an ei nt (for 
such it is to the Physiologist) upon too large a scale 
for its results to be set down as mere 'coincidences. ' — 
No soundly-judging Physiologist of the present 
likely to fall into the popular error, of supposing that 
'marks' upon the Infant are to be d to some 
transient though strong impression upon the imagina- 
tion of the Mother; but there r to be a si; 
number of facts on record, to prove that / mental 
conditions on the part of the Mother may have influence 
enough, at an early period of gestation, to produce evi- 
dent bodily deformity, or peculiar * of the 
mind. The error of the vulgar notion on this subj 
lies in supposing that a suddi n frig Jit, 
can exert such a continual influence on the nutrition of 
the Embryo as to occasion any lal peculiarity. 
The view here stated is one which ought to have g] 
weight in making manifest the importance of careful 
management of the health of the Mother, both corporeal 
and mental, during the period of pregnancy ; since the 
ultimate constitution of the offspring so much depends 
upon the influences then operating upon its most im- 
pressible structure. . . . 

"Numerous cases were recorded a few years since 
(especially in the Lancet and Provincial Medical Jour- 
nal) in which malformations in the Infant appeared 
distinctly traceable to strong impressions made on the 
mind of the Mother some months previously to parturi- 
tion; these impressions having been persistent during 
the remaining period of pregnancy, and giving rise to 
a full expectation on the part of the Mother that the 
child would be affected in the particular manner which 
actually occurred. Of one very striking case of this 



76 Mind as a Cause and Care of Disease 

kind the Author is personally cognizant, it having oc- 
curred in the family of a near connection of his own" 
(11:906-7). 

IV. The Effect Upon Disease 

Let us now consider the bearing which these facts 
have on certain aspects of disease. Commenting on the 
deleterious effects of hard and long continued mental 
application, Dr. Hall asserts that "too intense attention, 
too long sustained, has produced its own baneful in- 
fluence : the student' for honors at Cambridge has too 
frequently induced fatal actions or disease in the brain 
or general system: such, for example, was the fate of 
Henry Kirk White" (22: vol. II, 33). 

Likewise the following remarks by Unzer are to the 
same effect: "By deep and intense thought, the body 
wastes, the muscles become weaker, the blood is deter- 
mined to the head, the extremities become cold; the 
blood is changed in composition, the sensorial property 
of the nerves is altered, and they become too sensitive, 
and excite irregular sentient actions which derange 
the sentient action of the other sensational conceptive 
forces; the functions of the viscera are irregularly per- 
formed, and in particular the digestion is much impaired. 
Hence it follows that deep studies and scientific pur- 
suits are not the natural objects of man, but opposed to 
his health and well-being. Thus it is that those learned 
men who cultivate the abstract sciences are generally 
feeble, meagre, sensitive, splenetic, hypochondriacal, and 
fanciful, and have impaired digestion. On the contrary, 
the strongest and healthiest men, with good digestion, 
are little given to study the abstract sciences, and little 
capable of comprehending them. These principles have 
an important bearing on pathology" (18:177). 

Moreover, Dr. Tuke informs us that Descuret and 
Tissot held similar views in regard to the part played by 
hard study in the causation of disease, but does not 



Disorders of I 77 

distinctly state whether they, like Unzer, held that these 
same mental Bfc ages in the flow and com- 

position of the blood. he: "D t devotes a 

chapter to the 'Mania of Study/ and cites Rousseau's 
exaggerated expression, 'The man who thinks is a de- 
praved animal/ which he paraphrases, 'The man who 
thinks too much d< his constitution/ and enumer- 

ates among the consequences o ion, 

gastritis, enteritis, hemorrhoids, cancer of the stomach 
or intestines, and chronic affections of the urinary or- 
gans — a still great geration . . . 

"All forms of disease are i laid at 

the door of study by TiflBOt, namely, gout, tumors, 
aneurisms, inflammatio 

baldness, apoplexies, convulsions. it it would be 

altogether opposed to medical 
the chances of inflammation or 

or convulsions arising from study rtic 

aneurism or 8 dropsy is much more likely to result from 
passion or otl emotional action than from 

thought" (6:136, 138). 

In McCln or February, 1891, there ap- 

peared an article by Edward Wakefield entitled, A* 
ousness: The National Dis 0. This article 

was based upon an interview with Dr. Samuel Wier 
Mitchell, President of the Medical Society of Penn- 
vania, and a specialist in nervous diseases. According 
to the testimony of this eminent physician the number 
of deaths from nervous diseases ''in some of the busy 
centres" has multiplied in this country "more than 
twenty times in the last forty years." Moreover, in 
our large centres of population, "more than one-fourth 
of all the deaths" are said to be due to nervous diseases 
alone. This rapid increase in nervous troubles is at- 
tributed to three principle causes: the "climate," the 
"dollar devil," and the "school fiend." Granting that 
the climate of this country is con I to nervous 



78 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

troubles, inasmuch as it has probably undergone no 
essential change in the past hundred years, it does not 
come in as an essential factor in ascertaining the real 
cause of the startling increase in the number of deaths 
from nervous affections. Hence the forces working to 
this end would seem to be mental. In speaking of the 
"dollar devil" he says that the craze to get rich is 
leading many of our brightest and most promising young 
men to take positions which would not be filled in other 
countries by persons who had not reached at least mid- 
dle life and had long years of experience, with the re- 
sult that, not being able to stand the strain, the nervous 
system gives way ; some die immediately ; others take to 
drink and destroy themselves in that manner, while still 
others lose their mental poise and fill our asylums for 
the insane. As regards the "school fiend," the work, 
says he, in our educational institutions is much more 
deleterious upon the young ladies than upon the young 
men and he is reported to have declared that it would 
be better far for the women of our country if no girl 
entered our schools less than seventeen years of age than 
under existing conditions, since, in multitudinous cases 
it means for them to come out to spend the remainder 
of their days upon the sofa or in the sick room and to 
be a burden rather than a help to society. 

We do not understand Dr. Mitchell to mean that intel- 
lectual pursuits neeed necessarily be detrimental to one's 
health; for, in that case, the facts would appear to be 
against him. For instance, Dr. Tuke in speaking of the 
relation of mental activity to health and longevity, men- 
tions a list of from forty to sixty persons who were 
noted for the enormous amount of intellectual work 
which they performed, all of whom lived to be from 
seventy-five to above one hundred years old (see 6 : 137). 
This would seem to prove conclusively that mental labor 
is not necessarily detrimental to health. A too severe 
tax, however, upon the intellectual powers, especially 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 79 

during the periods of childhood and youth, according 
to the testimony of eminent p] leterious in 

its effects upon the physical organism. Yet theiv 
every reason to suppose that comparatively few per- 
sons break down simply because of mental energy ex- 
pended either in business or on books. It is probably 
not mental activity but mental states that are the chief 
cause of trouble. In other words, it is moods that kill — 
the fear, anxiety, and kindred states of conscious 
in which the work is done and which, according to the 
testimony of the ablest physicians have a bad effect 
upon the processes of nutrition and so at the v 

centres of life within the body. It is when one's busi- 
ness goes wrong or disappointments and calamities come 
that the appetite fails and bodily >s is the result. 

And if we add to these such m< 

jealousy, and the like, together with sensuality, then the 
effects will be still more injurious. 

Furthermore, not only nervous diseasi fl* bat even 
the most severe organic troubles can, according to the 
testimony of the most eminent phj . under certain 

circumstances, be produced by mental states. We have 
reference to di> 1 with the lungs, the liver, 

the stomach and other a consumption, 

jaundice, and even cancel'. Dr. Murchison, who was as- 
sistant physician at King's College Hospital in London, 
also at the London Fever Hospital, and a lecturer and 
practitioner of medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital, in a 
course of lectures which he delivered before "the Presi- 
dent and Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians" 
of London, expressed it as his honest conviction that 
even cancer is sometimes produced by mental states. 
Here are his words : ' ' Even cancer of the liver appears 
sometimes to result from the functional derangement 
induced in the first instance by mental trouble. I have 
been surprised at the frequency with which patients 
suffering from primary cancer of the liver have traced 



80 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

the commencement of their ill health to indigestion fol- 
lowing protracted grief or anxiety. The cases have been 
far too numerous to be accounted for on the supposition 
that the mental distress and the cancer have been mere 
coincidences. A similar observation has, I believe, been 
made by Sir Robert Christison and by other eminent 
authorities" (10:156-7). 

Moreover, Dr. Herbert L. Snow, after "several years 
work among cancerous patients," remarks as follows: 
"I am well aware that depression of mind as a fore- 
runner of cancer has been noticed by numerous observ- 
ers, and especially by the greatest in this field, Sir James 
Paget. . . . 

"We should . . . expect to find advancing civiliza- 
tion characterized by an increase (both in frequency and 
in variety) among diseases of the nervous system. I 
need hardly add that the natural tendency to such in- 
crease is vastly enhanced by aggregation of the popula- 
tion in large towns ; by a keener struggle for existence ; 
by over education and excessive multiplication of ex- 
aminations; by all sorts of artificial and unnatural 
habits, such as curtailment of the hours required by 
sleep, ill-ventilated dwellings, improper diet, and the 
too great use of stimulants ; above all, by worry. 

"We accordingly see a progressive increase in the 
relative frequency of insanity and its congeners; we 
find sclerosis, in its various forms, gradually becoming 
more prominent in our text-books; new and hitherto 
unnoticed forms of nervous derangement, functional or 
otherwise, are pointed out almost daily. Nor, in the 
paucity of our knowledge regarding such obscure 
maladies as Addison's disease, pernicious anaemia, dia- 
betes, etc., can it be pretended that we have any ade- 
quate measure of disease primarily owning a neurotic 
origin. Among those people who are still able to play 
their part in active life, we find the majority dyspeptic, 
brooding, nervous, easily overborne by slight troubles, 



Disorders of the Organic Functions 81 

prone to stimulants and nan if females, delicate, 

hysterical, chronic invalids, full of imaginary ailments. 
From such, granted some extra strain, such as the loss 
of a relative, pecuniary or other troubles, are manufac- 
tured our cancer patients; or, at least, that large division 
who suffer from carcinoma. . . . 

"We know very imperfectly how the nervous system 
influences nutrition and structure: but no man doubts 
that it does influence them, any more than he disbelieves 
its action on the circulation. And in the production of 
cancer, nervous depression may act indirectly; as. for 
example, fear or a chill appears to favor the lodgment 
and multiplication of the Fever-bacillus. All we can 
with confidence is that (in tli <-e of a mechanical 

cause) we rarely fail, on careful inquiry, to fi mc- 

tional nervous one. And this not aloi .-disposing, 

but as a direct excitant" (41 :24-9). 

Likewise Dr. Herbert Snow. more than twenty 

years* experience in the treatment of this disease, ob- 
serves: "Cancer is a disease of Civilization, almost 
restricted to the civilize iea contributing 

most to the mortality statistics are those directly asso- 
ciated with the increased worry, trouble, and anxiety 
which modern civilization brings in its train. . . . 

"Carcinoma — the cancer of secreting glands — is the 
prevalent cancer of the female, as epithelioma of the 
male. . . . 

"Carcinomata own two modes of causation — the neu- 
rotic and the mechanical. They may also supervene on 
certain benign tumors. 

"Mental distress, worry, anxiety, form the immediate 
excitant in about 90 per cent. . . . 

"Cylindroma — the cancer of the stomach and in- 
testines — is almost always preceded, as in carcinoma, by 
mental anxiety and distress" (-42:42-6). 

If it be true that anger, fear, anxiety and kindred 
emotions not only change the chemical nature of the 



82 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

secretions and of the blood but also render them poison- 
ous, then inasmuch as the tissues of the body axe built 
up from the blood, that they should be a cause of cancer 
is certainly reasonable if not inevitable. 

Says Dr. Carpenter: "It is not a little remarkable 
that the influence of Mental states should be unmis- 
takably manifested, not only in maladies in which Nerv- 
ous disorder has a large share, but also in some — as 
Scurvy and Gout — which seem to depend upon the ex- 
istence of a definite perversion in the condition of the 
blood" (30:688). 



CHAPTER IV 

Telepathy ok Thought-Tra* ^ce 

Thought-Transferem m to be 

phase of sensation corresponding to that of touch or 
feeling. Nor, as Car aa we know, is there any reason 
to suppose that thought itself can actually red 

from one individual to another by any mode of com- 
munication between man and man. That is to e 
thought cannot be transferred from one person to an- 
other in the same manner as a material 
Where the identical thing, as for • a book, pa- 

from one to the other. 

A very old, if not the oldest, mode of communication 
between human beings 18 through the voice or spoken 
word. One person, by means of the vo< 
up vibrations or impulses in the atmosphere. These, 
striking upon the ear a disturbance 

in the auditory nerve and so affect the brain. The re- 
sult is a state of consciousness on the part of the one 
so affected. Yet there is no reason to suppose that the 
state of mind of the speaker and of the person spoken to 
are strictly identical. In fact there is every reason to 
infer that they are not. Perhaps the most that any indi- 
vidual can do for another through any mode of communi- 
cation is simply to direct his attention or thought-activi- 
ties along a particular line or centre them upon a par- 
ticular subject — that is to say, to "furnish food for 
thought' ' rather than the thoughts themselves; to arouse 
the mind to vigorous activity instead of imparting ideas 
or mental conceptions. 

This mode of intercourse necessitates that the different 
parties be in the presence of or at no great distance from 

83 



84 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

each other. In order to get over this difficulty and' for 
various other reasons there arose in course of time the 
invention of signs or symbols to represent mental con- 
ceptions and especially certain sounds. Inasmuch as 
these could be transferred to material substances and 
the material substances could be conveyed from one 
place to another, it now became possible for persons to 
hold intercourse with each other who were living thou- 
sands of miles apart. Furthermore, since these symbols 
could be translated from one language into another — 
that is, from one form of symbolology into another form 
which corresponded — and could be transferred from one 
substance to another and so handed down from genera- 
tion to generation, it now became possible for persons 
to hold converse with each other who belonged to dif- 
ferent nationalities and lived centuries apart. Hence 
we of the present day can hold communion with Seneca 
and Marcus Aurelius, with Jesus, the Christ, and 
Gotama, the Buddha, with Plato and Aristotle ; in short, 
with the greatest teachers and most profound thinkers of 
all ages. Thus man by his inventions has broken down 
the barriers of space and time and made it possible for 
all to enjoy the society of the wise and intelligent of 
days gone by. What this shall mean for any person, 
however, will depend upon his own growth or develop- 
ment of soul which, in turn, will be determined by birth, 
education, and all those factors which are leading the in- 
dividual and humanity onward and upward towards 
the divine perfection. 

Hence we see that in the first mode of communication 
between man and man the medium is the atmosphere and 
the organs of hearing; in the second, the ether and the 
organs of vision ; and, if a person is born deaf and blind, 
then it is through the agency of some material substance 
and the sense of touch. Likewise, so long as any organ 
of sensation is in a more or less perfect condition, so long 



Though t-Transfcrcnce 85 

is there an avenue through which one human b( i 
find access to the soul or mind of another. 



l. Experiment* of Vario\ tals 

But the question arises, Is tin re any mode of communi- 
cation of this sort otli- than through the chan 

ady mentioned? Because of ceri 
riencea, many very intelligent persons were led long ago 
to believe that such must be the case. F<» . two 

friendfl are out for a walk and for » been 

engaged in quiet meditation, when ily one 

presses the very idea and perhap that 

are in the mind of the other and whi I on 

the point of uttering. Or a p- I in an 

audience among bund: 1, for some un- 

known reason, quickly turns round, when, to his sur- 
prise, hi meet the g 

attention had been centered upon him for a few mom< 
but, very likely, without the E • ntion i 

ing any such act on his part. A« n hance, one is 

seated in his room when the thought of i 'ion 

suddenly enters his mind. A moment later he hears a 
knock at the door and no sooner dot g it than. 

lo and behold! there stands the i 1 person whom 

he was just thinking about Likewise it may be that 
at some particular time there conies vividly into one's 
recollection the thought of some friend, known long 
ago, but seemingly faded from memory. A few days 
later a letter is received from this same person, and, 
strange to say, it is found to be dated the very day and 
hour when the thought of this individual came so dis- 
tinctly to mind. Lastly, to speak of that which is still 
more remarkable, it may happen that during the wak- 
ing state, but more likely while asleep, there comes over 
one an over-mastering conviction that some terrible 



86 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

calamity lias befallen a loved one, hundreds or, perhaps^ 
thousands of miles away. Weeks and perhaps months 
pass by when, on a certain day, there comes the intelli- 
gence that the calamity, so ominously revealed, actually 
transpired at that very moment. 

It was because of the multiplicity of experiences of 
tliis nature that long ago many thoughtful people were 
led to infer that there must be some mysterious or un- 
recognized mode of communication between soul and 
soul. Such being the case, they naturally began to 
riment in order to ascertain whether this was really 
so. At first these experiments were carried on with 
contact between the different parties and took the form 
of the so-called "willing game." A person would be 
taken out of the room and, in some instances, blind- 
folded. In the meantime some one would conceal in an 
out-of-the-way place a knife, piece of money or anything 
of the sort. Then, the person having been brought in 
and placed at a distance from the article concealed, one 
or more individuals would place their hands gently 
upon this person and strongly will him to go in the de- 
sired direction. Strange to say, an experiment of this 
kind not unfrequently proved a genuine success. At 
first, however, most people attributed this to voluntary 
pushing on the part of those who touched the person 
operated upon. But later it was discovered that, even 
though there was no intentional or conscious pushing, 
the experiment not unfrequently proved successful. 
Hence a large number of intelligent people came to 
hold that here was absolute proof of a new method of 
thought communication. 

At this juncture, however, a more careful study of 
the relation between mind and body by the physiologists 
convinced them that mental states influence the differ- 
ent parts of the physical organism in the most subtle 
manner; and that it would be practically impossible for 
anyone to place his hand upon the body of another and 



Thougkt-Ti nee 87 

strongly will him to go in a particular direction with- 
out having that m< -ate so affect the nervous and 

muscular system as to cause activity to take place at 
the point of contact, which activity might be perceived 
by the person operated upon and interpreted in such 
a way as to enable him to carry out successfully an ex- 
periment of this kind. Naturally this hypothesis of the 
physiologists was looked upon by the great mass of those 
who believed in a new mode of thought-ti tnce bat 

were ignorant in regard to the effect of the mind upon 
the body as unreasonable and even absurd. 

Shortly, however, the p 
theory by facts which no one could possibly gainsay or 
resist. As far back as tl of Lord Bai on there 

was an experiment which consisted in holding a ring 
or piece of money suspended by a silk thread in a g\ 
Then some one would mention to the person doing this 
the time of day — eight, nine, ten o'clock or any hour 
it chanced to be. It sometimes happened that shortly 
afterwards the ring or money began to oscillate until at 
length it struck against the side of the glass and, having 
struck the number of times corresponding to the hour 
of the day, gradually ceased its movements till finally 
it "aine to a standstill. At first the motion was thought 
by most people to be due to voluntary or intentional 
activity within the arm and hand on the part of the 
operator. Ere long, however, it was found that, even 
though the operator had no such deliberate intention 
and was not conscious of any such activity taking place, 
nevertheless the experiment was a success. Moreover, 
Bacon himself suggested that it might be due to some 
mysterious influence of the mind or imagination and 
advised a careful investigation of phenomena of this 
kind. No one, however, appears to have done so till the 
time of Chevreul, the distinguished French physician 
and chemist. In his day they had a custom of holding 
a "pendulum composed of a flexible wire and heavy 



88 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

weight" over mercury or some other substance. After 
a while it would begin to oscillate as in the experiment 
carried on in Bacon's time and under similar circum- 
stances. Inferring that the mind, acting upon the nerves 
and muscles, was the cause of the activity, he contrived 
a device whereby the hand became rigidly fixed. As he 
had expected, there was now no movement of the pen- 
dulum. Furthermore, he discovered that if the person 
w T as blindfolded the experiments were a failure (see 
6:92-4). 

Of course, after these demonstrations of Chevreul, no 
person acquainted with the effects of the mind upon the 
body could be induced to believe there was any proof 
of thought-transference so long as there was contact be- 
tween the different parties. Consequently, those inter- 
ested in establishing this theory were compelled to adopt 
some other method. Somewhat over a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago, that is, in 1875, there appeared a man in New 
Haven, Conn., by the name of Brown. He had been a 
student in Michigan University and, while there, had per- 
formed some wonderful feats in this line. Coming as 
he did with the very best of credentials from the pro- 
fessors of the University just mentioned, he easily won 
the confidence of the instructors at Yale, where he car- 
ried on a series of experiments in one of the lecture 
rooms connected with the Sheffield Scientific School. In 
doing so, a small wire was used — sometimes one twenty 
and a half feet long, sometimes one a little over two 
hundred. Of course, in all eases it was allowed to be 
slack. Previous to the experiments Brown was sent 
out of the room and blindfolded. Meantime some pro- 
fessor secreted in some part of the room the article to 
be found. After this Brown was brought in and placed 
at some considerable distance from the article concealed. 
Then he having taken hold of one end of the wire and 
some one or more of the professors hold of the other, 
they willed him to go to this particular place. Prof. 



Tlwught-Transference 89 

Lyman informs us that "in eight wire experiments six 
were entirely successful, the other two were partial 
failures, but in each case the failure was as remarkable 
as the success.' ' As a result of these performances Prof. 
Lyman was led to conclude that facts like these could 
not be explained on the basis of "unconscious muscular 
action' ' and must result from the effect of one mind upon 
another through some agency hitherto unrecognized (see 
37:18f.). 

Even here, notwithstanding there was no personal 
contact, yet a material medium was employed. The next 
step in advance was to do away with even this. Some 
five years later, that is in 1880, we find a Rev. Mr. 
Creery, living in Buxton, Eng., very much interested in 
the phenomena connected with the "willing game." De- 
sirous of knowing how much of the success in those per- 
formances was due to involuntary pushing and how much 
to some other cause — for, in what took place, there were 
certain features which could not be satisfactorily ex- 
plained on the basis of involuntary action — he proceeded 
as follows: Having five children between the ages of 
nine and sixteen, with these and a servant he carried on 
a series of experiments for an hour or so each evening; 
extending over a period of several months. In doing 
this, having gathered all the family in the same room, 
one of the children or the servant was sent into an ad- 
joining one, when Mr. Creery decided upon some article 
in the room occupied by himself and the others, the 
name of which was to be held distinctly in mind. This 
being done, the person sent out was called in and stood 
quietly, often with closed eyes, while all fixed their 
attention upon the same very intently for a few moments. 
Rev. Mr. Creery says that he was surprised at the fre- 
quency they guessed right. This led him to try experi- 
ments much more difficult and so, instead of taking ob- 
jects in the room, he took the names of towns, and also 
of persons. Yet, says he, the children guessed nearly 



90 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

or quite as well. Moreover, he informs us that he had 
as many as seventeen cards drawn at random from a 
pack guessed right in succession (see 38:32-3). 

An account of the doings of Mr. Creery fell into the 
hands of Prof. Barrett of the Royal College of Science, 
Dublin, who for some time had been interested in the 
study of this subject. As a result, Prof. Barrett visited 
his home at Easter, 1881, in order to ascertain whether 
he had carried on his work with proper precautions. 
"While there he carried on similar experiments with like 
success, after which he instituted others of a more diffi- 
cult nature. Having determined upon some object in 
the house the name of which was to be held in mind, they 
all centered their attention upon the child who still re- 
mained in an adjoining room, it having been arranged 
that when the idea of any object came into its mind, the 
child, having gone to any part of the house and pro- 
cured it, should bring it into the room occupied by Prof. 
Barrett and the others. For example, an orange would 
be chosen, and the child, having gone to some room and 
secured one, would bring it to the professor. Or it might 
be a plate, saucer or anything of the sort. (See 38 : 34-6) . 

Describing a series of the experiments performed on 
one of these occasions the narrator says: "I wrote down, 
among other things, a ' hair-brush, ' — it was brought ; an 
1 orange/ — it was brought; a ' wine-glass, ' — it was 
brought; an ' apple,' — it was brought; a ' toasting-fork/ 
failed on the first attempt, a pair of tongs being brought, 
but on a second trial it was brought. With another 
child (among other trials not here mentioned), a 'cup' 
was written down by me, — it was brought; a ' saucer,' — 
this was a failure, a plate being brought ; no second trial 
allowed. The child, being told it was a saucer, replied, 
— • That came into my head, but I hesitated as I thought 
it unlikely you would name saucer after cup, as being 
too easy'" (38:37). 

Later still, Washington Irving Bishop, who had 



Tli o ugh f-Tra nsference 91 

Created such a sensation in this country, appeared in 
London, and, through the kindly assistance of Dr. 
William B. Carpenter, the distinguished writer on phys- 
iology, obtained access to the best literary and scientific 
circles of that city. For several weeks he carried on 
experiments in the drawing-rooms of the most influential 
an account of which soon after appeared in one of the 
current scientific journals. In the very next issue of 
the same there appeared another article on this same 
topic, written by Professor Barrett himself, in which 
he gave a description of the experiments he had made 
at the home of Mr. Creery. Of course, these were much 
more remarkable than those carried on by Dr. Bishop, 
since in those performances there had always been 
contact between the different parties, whereas in his, 
not only had there been no contact, but, in some of them, 
the person operated upon had not even been in the same 
room. 

2. Experin / tlu London Society for Psychical 

All these experiments and a host of others of a sim- 
ilar nature created a profound interest in the investiga- 
tion of thought-transference and kindred phenomena. 
As a consequence, there was founded in February, 1882, 
the London Society for Psychical Research. Henry 
Sidgwiek, a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge, 
was chosen President; Prof. W. F. Barrett, F. R. S. E., 
of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, whose name 
we have previously mentioned, Prof. Balfour Stewart, 
F. R. S., of the Owens College, Manchester, and others 
were selected for the Vice Presidents. Among the hon- 
orary members we find Lord (Alfred) Tennyson, Alfred 
Russell Wallace, F. R. G. S., Prof. J. C. Adams, LL. D., 
F. R. S., of the Cambridge (England) Observatory and 
others equally distinguished. That is to say, the Lon- 
don Society for Psychical Research "is made up of, and 



92 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

controlled by, as much genuine scientific ability and in- 
tegrity as any learned body in the kingdom, ' ' and marks 
a new era in the realm of scientific investigation (see 
38:1-16). 

The aim of the Society is to examine into every phase 
of psychic phenomena — dreams, somnambulism, trance, 
hypnotism, mesmerism, thought-transference and kin- 
dred subjects. Different lines of work are apportioned 
to separate committees. The committee on thought- 
transference visited the home of Mr. Creery and insti- 
tuted a series of experiments similar to those carried on 
previously by Mr. Creery and Prof. Barrett, obtaining 
similar results (see 38:38-55). 

Perhaps some of the most interesting and impressive 
work in connection with this Society is that of the con- 
veying of pictures of objects from one person to another 
by mental agency. One method is as follows : A person 
"blindfolded and his ears muffled,' ' is seated at a table 
with pencil and paper before him. Then some individual 
draws on a piece of paper an object, it may be a geomet- 
rical figure or anything of a similar sort. The party, 
who is to transfer this to the recipient, first obtains a 
vivid conception of it in his own mind or imagination. 
Then, being seated by the person blindfolded and taking 
him by the hand, he centers his attention upon him with 
the intention of causing him to see the picture in his 
mind as plainly as he perceives it himself. After a short 
time he lets go his hand and the other, blindfolded or 
otherwise, draws upon the paper before him the impres- 
sion he has received. Sometimes, instead of taking a 
figure that has been drawn, they make use of some object 
in the room, which answers the same purpose. Nor is it 
at all essential that there be contact between the different 
parties in order to obtain excellent results. The work 
that has been done in this way is certainly very remark- 
able (see 39:31-57). 



Thought-Transference 93 

The first three pages of the illustrations which follow 
are from a series given in Mind-Beading and Beyond, by 
William A. Hovey (38:134-43). As regards this work 
which comprises 201 pages, all, except the last 19, are 
"compiled from the published proceedings of the Lon- 
don Society for Psychical Research" (38:183). Miss 
R. and Miss E. received the impressions and Mr. Si 
"President of the Literary and Philosophical Society 
of Liverpool" and Mr. Hughes, "a v i'ul pro- 

ducer of impressions/' imparted them. Referring to 
th circumstances under which they were executed the 
narrator observes: 

"The originals of the following diagrams were for 
the most part drawn in another room from that in which 
the subject was placed. The rated in the same 

room were drawn while the subject waa blindfolded, at 
a distance from her, and in such a way that the process 
would have been wholly invisible to her or any one else, 
even had an attempt been made to observe it. During 
the process of transference, the agent looked steadily 
and in perfect silence at the original drawing, which was 
placed upon an intervening wooden stand; the subject 
sitting opposite to him, and behind the stand, blind- 
folded and quite still. The agent ceased looking at the 
drawing, and the blindfolding was removed, only when 
the subject professed herself ready to make the repro- 
duction, which happened usually in times varying from 
half a minute to two or three minutes. Her position 
rendered it absolutely impossible that she should glimpse 
at the original. She could not have done so, in fact, 
without rising from her seat and advancing her head 
several feet ; and as she was almost in the same line of 
sight as the drawing and so almost in the centre of the 
agent's field of observation, the slightest approach to 
such a movement must have been instantly detected. 
The reproductions were made in perfect silence, and 



94 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

without the agent even following the actual process with 
his eyes, though he was of course, able to keep the sub- 
ject under the closest observation" (38:132-3). 

As regards the reliability of those on the last four 
pages, made "without contact" and also taken from the 
same source as the preceding (38:157-60), the report 
says: "Professor Barrett has seen the agent, Mr. J. W? 
Smith, of Brunswick Place, Leeds, and his sister, the 
percipient, and has carefully explained to them the neces- 
sary precautions" (38:152). 



Tlwught-Transference ( j7j 

No. 12.— Original Drawing. 



Mr. Steel and Miss R. No contact 



No. 12. — Reproduction. 




96 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

No. 15. — Original Drawing. 




Mr. Hughes and Miss E. No contact. 



No. 15. — Reproduction. 




Mis9 E. said, "It is like a' mask at a pantomime," and immediately drew at 

above. 



Thought-Transference 
No. 1 6. — Original Drawing. 



97 




Mr. Hughes and Miss E. No contact. 
No. 16. — Reproduction. 




98 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 



Original Drawing. 




Reproduction. 




Thought-Tranifm 



99 



Oricinal Drawing. 





Reproduction. 



100 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 
Original Drawing. 




Reproduction. 




Thought-Trans ference 
Oricinal Drawing. 



101 




Reproduction. 



102 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Numerous diagrams, or reproductions of mental pic- 
tures, similar to those already given are contained not 
only in the work of Mr. Hovey but also in that of Mr. 
Podmore, a member of the committee on thought-trans- 
ference of the Society for Psychical Research, whose 
book (No. 39 in the list), like that of Mr. Hovey's, is 
for the most part a compilation from the reports of 
this organization. Likewise in the records of this So- 
ciety we find cases cited where this transference of men- 
tal pictures has been done unconsciously or unintention- 
ally. For example, a lady by the name of Mrs. Barber, 
who lived near Sheffield, England, went down to the 
city one morning to do some shopping. Having returned 
home and being seated at the dinner table, the sight of 
her little girl on the opposite side — "a sensitive, quick- 
witted little maiden of two years and six months old" — 
reminded her of something she had seen that morning 
and wished to tell her. Having caught the eyes of the 
child she was just on the point of saying, " Mother saw 
a big, black dog in a shop, with curly hair," when, be- 
fore a single word had been uttered, her attention was 
suddenly called off in another direction. Almost in- 
stantly the little girl exclaimed, "Mother saw a big dog 
in a shop." In the greatest surprise the mother re- 
marked, "Yes, I did, but how did you know?" for she 
had mentioned the circumstance to no one. Paying no 
regard to her mother's question she went on to say, 
"With funny hair." It would seem that not knowing 
the word "curly," she had used "funny," the best at 
her command. Said one of her little brothers who ap- 
pears to have caught the same impression, "What color 
was it, Evelyn? Was it black?" She replied, "Yes." 
(39:168.) 

Here we have an excellent illustration of the uncon- 
scious application of the same principle by which the 
London Society does work of a similar nature. It would 
be perfectly natural for the mother, in order to make 



Tlwught-T rans fercnce 103 

her story interesting to her little girl, to bring vividly 

before her mind or imagination a picture of the animal 
she had seen. Coi her at- 

tenton upon her lit' without the itention 

on her part, sh the im] on her sen- 

sitive mind. Therefore all the child nply to 

tell what she hfl .itally. 

According to I 
to be done at a eonsiderabl two 

young ladies, Alias C. M. C 1 and 

pard, living in opposite parts of London i 
interested in this subject, had agreed to I 
rooms at a i hour. spard, v to send 

the other a mental 1 upon 

her bureau a pair of old, tan-color 

not her gloves. Tl re not 1. had 

her friend i Having ol im- 

pression of them in her own mind at- 

tention as stroi I Tor a 

minutes. Describi] on with 

this incident, D apbell rem; my at- 

tention seemed to flit from one object to another while 
nothing definite stood out. but soon pair of glov 

which became more distinct till they app a pair 

of baggy, tan-colored kid inly a size lar. 

than worn by either R. C. D. or myself, and not quite 
like any of ours in color" (39 : 

But would this young lady have received the impres- 
sion had she not been in her room I It would look so 
from these reports. It is said that on another occasion 
these two persons were carrying on a similar experiment. 
The time determined upon was 11 :50 to 11 :55 A. M. of 
a certain day. Miss Despard says: "At ten minutes 
to twelve I concentrated my mind on an object that hap- 
pened to be in front of me at the time — two scalpels, 
crossed with their points together — but in about five 
minutes, as it occurred to me that the knowledge that 



104 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

I was then at the School of Medicine might suggest a 
similar idea to Miss Campbell, I tried to bring up a 
country scene, of a brook running through a field, with 
a patch of yellow marsh marigolds in the foreground. 
This second idea made no impression on Miss Campbell 
— perhaps owing to the bustle around her at the time" 
(39:128). 

The account of Miss Campbell runs as follows: "Ow- 
ing to an unexpected delay, instead of being quietly at 
home at 11 :50 A. M., I was waiting for my train at 
Baker Street, and as just at that time trains were mov- 
ing away from both platforms, and there was the usual 
bustle going on, I thought it hopeless to try on my 
part; but just while I was thinking this I felt a sort 
of mental pull-up, which made me feel sure that Miss 
Despard was fixing her attention, and directly after I 
felt ' my-compasses-no, scalpel,' seemed to see a flash of 
light as if on bright steel, and I thought of two scalpels, 
first with their points together and then folding to- 
gether into one; just then my train came up" 
(39:127-8). 

Let us take another case which is even more remark- 
able, especially in that it took place unconsciously. Dr. 
Dupre, a French physician, was out one day making 
calls, when, as he was going down the steps of a certain 
patient's house, all of a sudden there came into his mind 
a picture of his own little girl lying at the foot of the 
stone steps of his home with a gash cut in her chin. 
Having never had an experience of this kind before he 
naturally wondered what it could mean. He "took note 
of the hour" and continued making his calls, but, find- 
ing it impossible to shake off the impression, finally 
decided to drive around to the house to see if anything 
of the sort had transpired. Having entered, on meeting 
his wife, he remarked: "Loulou is hurt. Is it serious?" 
She exclaimed, ' ' Who told you ? " "No one, ' ' he replied, 
and then related to her the experience he had had only 



Thought -Trans ference 105 

a few hours previously, the time of which was found to 
correspond exactly with that when the calamity oc- 
curred (see 39:172-3). 

Of course it would be perfectly natural for the mother 
or the servant, when they saw 7 the child lying at the foot 
of the steps with an ugly gash in the chin, to have their 
thought go instantly to the little girl's father, who was 
a physician, and think what a pity that he was not pres- 
ent to tend to the wound. But it would seem that they, 
without being aware of it or having the remotest idea 
where he was, had sent a picture of the scene so clearly 
and forcibly that he himself received it. Had he not, 
however, been in just the right mental state there is no 
reason to suppose that he would have done so; for, just 
as it is possible for a person to be within the reach of 
another's voice and yet be so absorbed in thought as not 
to hear one word that has been spoken, so must it be 
considered equally possible for one to be in a state of 
mind such as to prevent one's getting an impression of 
this kind, even though it v - and mi ve been 

received had the conditions been ble. That is to 

say, here as elsewhere certain conditions must be ful- 
filled in order to secure certain results, and to demand 
this is scientific. Hence it w T ould seem that, no matter 
where a person may be upon this earth — and perhaps 
we might just as well say throughout the entire universe 
— all that is needful in order to reach him by the mental 
method is simply to bring him vividly to mind with the 
earnest desire to be in communication with him and it 
shall come to pass, even though one have not the remotest 
idea as to where the person is. 

Furthermore, not only pictures of objects but also sen- 
sations (or what amounts to the same thing) can evi- 
dently be conveyed from one person to another in this 
manner. In experiments of this kind some one, with 
eyes closed or blindfolded, is placed at a short distance 
from one or more persons who have agreed to inflict pain 



106 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

at the same time on certain parts of the body and fix 
their attention upon the one who is to be affected by 
their mental state. For instance, they will stick a pin 
into the thumb, then into the wrist, then into the lobe 
of the ear, etc., in each case centering their attention 
upon the person to be impressed. In some of the experi- 
ments reported by the London Society the person 
operated upon has guessed right in nearly every instance 
(see 39:23-4, 34, 60-2). 

Also cases are reported where the same thing has 
taken place unconsciously and at a distance. It is said 
that Mrs. Severn, the wife of an English landscape 
painter, was lying fast asleep in bed one morning when 
suddenly it seemed as if she received a terrible blow 
across the mouth. She awoke instantly and, seizing her 
handkerchief, put it to her mouth, supposing her upper 
lip to be bleeding very profusely. When, however, a 
moment later she removed it no blood was to be seen. 
Inasmuch as there was no person in the room and no 
piece of wall had fallen she quite naturally came to 
the conclusion that all this was due to some horrible 
dream, as, indeed, it might have been. Perceiving her 
husband was not in the room she inferred that ' ' he must 
have gone out on the lake for an early sail, as it was so 
fine." Having looked at her watch she laid down for 
another nap. Afterwards, when seated at the breakfast 
table, she noticed that her husband every once in a while 
would take his handkerchief and put it up to his mouth. 
At length she asked, "Arthur, why are you doing that?" 
adding somewhat anxiously, "I know you've hurt your- 
self, but I'll tell you why afterwards." Thereupon he 
replied: "Well, when I was sailing, a sudden squall 
came, throwing the tiller suddenly round, and it struck 
me a hard blow in the mouth, under the upper lip, and 
it has been bleeding a good deal and won't stop" 
(39:162-3). Upon inquiring as to when this had oc- 
curred, it was found to have transpired at the very time 
when she had had this peculiar experience in bed. 



Tkought-Trwnsfi 107 

Of course it would be perfectly ] for her hus- 

band, when he expected the boat to 1 and he 

himself very likely to go to the bottom of I e, to 

have his thought go instantly to his wife, and in this 
way he seems to have can- 

perience similar to his own, although ti. I nge 

did not take place in her ph. Thai Bach, how- 

ever, might have been the cafl know from various 

incidents already related (see pages 61-7). Fur;! 
more, what is true in regard to the ti nee of pi 

is also true in regard to the transference of I »lor, 

and, probably, every phase of sensation (see 39:20-3, 
32-4). 

Moreover, ideas, at least of a general character, can 
be transferred in this wa; own 

in discussing the phenomena connected with I 
"willing game" (fl - B6-91 . In 

it was done intentionally and • purpose. We 

will now give an illustration or two showing how the 
same thing may take place in the most cm nan- 

ner. Bishop Will* one da I at a table 

in his library with several other clergymen, when he 
abruptly exclaimed, "I am certain that something has 
happened to one of my sons." Some time afterwards 
intelligence was received that his son, who was on board 
a ship, had at that identical moment met with a severe 
accident. In a letter, written at the time and dated 
Mach 4, 1847, the Bishop observed : k ' It is curious that 
at the time of his accident I was so possessed with the 
depressing consciousness of some evil having befallen my 
son Herbert that at last, on the third day after — the 
13th — I wrote down that I was quite unable to shake off 
the impression that something had happened to him and 
noted this down for remembrance' ' (38:60). 

We will cite another case which is, perhaps, even more 
wonderful. A man living in East Boston had committed 
a crime for which he was sentenced to the State Peniten- 



108 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

tiary for life. He had a wife and little boy five years 
old, of both of which he was exceedingly fond. They 
were allowed to visit him from time to time and, when- 
ever they parted, so strong were his feelings that he 
could scarcely restrain his tears. One Sunday morning 
when the lad was playing on the wharf he fell off into 
the sea and was drowned. No one witnessed it at the 
time nor was his body found till three days afterwards. 
Then his mother wrote the Warden asking him to tell 
her husband that their little boy was dead, but that 
she would tell him how it happened when she came to 
see him. The Warden called the prisoner and, after 
some preliminary remarks to help pave the way, he 
informed him that he had sad news to tell him. Said 
he, "I know what it is, Mr. Warden ; my boy is dead. ' ' 
"How did you hear of it?" the Warden asked in sur- 
prise. "Oh, I knew it was so; he was drowned, was he 
not, Mr. Warden?" continued the prisoner. "But who 
informed you of it?" he again asked. "No one," re- 
plied the prisoner. "How, then, did you know he was 
dead, and what makes you think he was drowned?" 
inquired the Warden still again, to which query the 
prisoner replied as follows: "Last Sunday your little 
boy was in the chapel ; he fell asleep, and you took him 
up and held him. As I looked up and caught sight of 
him lying in your arms instantly the thought occurred 
to me that my boy was dead — drowned. In vain I tried 
to banish it from my mind, to think of something else, 
but could not; the tears came into my eyes, and it has 
been ringing in my ears ever since ; and when you sent 
for me my heart sunk within me, for I felt sure my 
fears were to be confirmed" (39:170-1). 

Probably as this boy fell into the water his thoughts 
went instantly to his papa, who loved him so passionately 
and whom he naturally loved greatly in return. Also 
the very circumstance that the mind of the father was 
fixed upon the child at the probable time of the calamity 



Thought-Transj 109 

may have aided much in giving vividness to the impres- 
sion. 

3. Explanation and Practical Value 

In the light of this and a vast amount of other testi- 
mony of a similar chai I not only from the 
London Bog learch, but from a host 
of individuals whose vera mot be called in ques- 
tion, it would look as though images of objects, sensa- 
tions (or what con a to the same thing and ideas 
(at least of a general < haracter) can be produced by the 
influence of one mind upon another otherwise than 
through the ordinary channels. If so, how then is it 
brought about? Perhaps the beat way to get at the 

ialogy. It is said that 
"A swinging penduhu I from a solid support 

will throw into synchronous vibration another pendulum 
attached to the same support if the period of oscillation 
of the two be tl; : tin* medium of transmission here 

being the solid material of the support. One tuning 
fork or string in unison with another will communicate 
its impulses through the medium of the air. Glowing 
particles of gas, acting through the medium of the 
luminiferous ether, can throw into sympathetic vibra- 
tion cool particles of the same substance at a distance. 
A permanent magnet brought into a room will throw 
any surrounding iron into a condition similar to its own ; 
and here the medium of communication is unknown, 
though the fact is undisputed. Similarly, we may con- 
ceive, if we please, with many modern philosophers, that 
for every thought there is a corresponding motion of the 
particles of the brain, and that this vibration of mole- 
cules of brain stuff may be communicated to an inter- 
vening medium, and so pass under certain circumstances 
from one brain to another with a corresponding simul- 
taneity of impressions" (38:67-8). 

Viewed in this light the effect of mind upon mind is 



110 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

simply another phase of the relation of the mind to 
physical sensation, since all sensation can be resolved 
in the last analysis to that of touch or feeling. Hence 
looked at from this standpoint thought-transference can 
be regarded as scarcely more remarkable than that com- 
munication which takes place between persons through 
any of the ordinary channels of sensation. 

Granting such communication to be possible, of what 
practical value could it be to humanity? 

In the first place, it might, perhaps, be utilized as a 
means of telegraphy. For, if pictures can be reproduced 
or sent from one mind to another by the mental process, 
a system of symbols could be adopted which might serve 
as a medium for transmission of this kind. 

Secondly, according to the testimony of Washington 
Irving Bishop, it could be made a means of detecting 
crime. In a letter which appeared in the Boston daily 
papers Nov. 17, 1886, he observes: "Whilst enjoying, 
during the last Christmas holidays, the distinguished 
honor of being the guest of their Imperial Majesties, the 
Emperor and Empress of Eussia, at their palace at 
Gatchina, I was asked whether the power of thought 
reading, the genuineness of which, since 1869, I have so 
repeatedly and successfully demonstrated before the elite 
of the scientific world, could be utilized in the detection 
of crime. I replied that the time was approaching when 
the power of thought reading would not only be applied 
to the detection of criminals, but to the diagnosing of 
disease, and I asked the imperial parties to enact the 
scene of a supposed murder during my absence from the 
palace. This suggestion having been complied with, I 
re-entered the imperial apartments and, having stood 
for a few moments by the side of the supposed murderer, 
His Imperial Highness the Grank Duke Constantine 
Constantinovitch, I obtained a complete mental picture 
of the events which had occurred during my absence. I 
then discovered and seized the weapon, which had been 



Though t-T ransference 111 

concealed, and re-enacted, in minute detail, the imag- 
inary tragedy, thrilling with wonder the imperial party 
and terrifying the superstitions Coi who 

believed my power to be the result of some unholy 
alliance with the other wori 

Furthermore, it would doubtless be ol service in the 
healing of disease, inasmuch as inharmonious mental 
states could to a jj iminated in 

thi> ad harmonious ones established in their stead. 

A good illustration of thi to be found in 

the followi -1 by Pro! Mr. 

Lewis met a party of fifty ladies and gentlemen in my 
house one i • nd of November or beginning 

of December, 1850. lie acted on the company en ma 
and affected s among them a lady, a member of 

my family, who was susceptible, and had frequently 
been magnetized by others. This lady, when magnetized, 
loses the power of her arms, her eyea are closed, and the 
sensations - marked and well 

known to her. Mr ing told how Strang 

she had been affected by him, did not do anything to 
remove the and the consequence was a headache, 

to which she is naturally v ect. This she ascribed 

to her not having been demagnetised, and it continued 
next morning. When I saw Mr. Lewis, after my lec- 
ture at 11 A. ML, he asked me how the lady was. I men- 
tioned her headacl. *ea of the cause of 
it. Mr. Lewis then said, 'Oh, never mind the headache. 
I shall think of her some time during the day and dis- 
miss her headache. ' This I begged him to do, as I knew 
that such things could be done. He then left me. "When 
I returned home at 5 P. M. I had quite forgotten this 
conversation, when the lady in question recalled it by 
saying as I entered the room, 'What do you think of 
this? I have been magnetized in your absence.' ' In- 
deed; by whom?' 'By nobody. I was sitting at the 
piano-forte playing at half-past three, when I felt as if 



112 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

strangely magnetized; my arms lost their power; I could 
no longer play, and had all the usual sensations. In a 
few minutes I was compelled to lie down on the sofa and 
fell into a short magnetic sleep. When I awoke my 
headache was quite gone. ' ' Did you mention this to any 
one at the time?' 'I was alone, but just as I woke a 
lady who was here last night called and I told her of it, 
adding that I felt sure that Mr. Lewis was magnetizing 
me.' I then said that he had undertaken to do so, but 
that I did not know whether he had done it or not. In 
the evening I saw Mr. Lewis again at a large party, and, 
in the presence of Dr. W. F. Cumming, who felt much 
interest in the case, I asked him whether he had kept his 
promise about the lady's headache. He said he had. 
Dr. Cumming then asked him at what time, when he at 
once answered, 'at half -past three, when I returned to 
my lodging. I could not do it soooner' " (4:97-8). 

Inasmuch as the lady who had the headache was not 
aware that she was going to be treated by Mr. Lewis 
here would seem to be a bona fide case of healing by 
thought-transference or through mind acting upon mind 
at a distance. 



CHAPTER V 

The Principles of Mental or Psychic Healing 

Dr. Moore observes: "The 1 D be influenced 

only by four kinds of force — c anical, vital 

and mental. . . . But the mind acts as clearly and dis- 
tinctly on the body as either hanical or 
vital agency. . . . .Mind, in fact, is the mightiest power 
we know, and perhaps, properly speaking, the only 
power. . . . Chemical action is dependent on electi 
action, and electrical action is dependent on some supe- 
rior power; the same, it that which causes 
gravitation, in. ity, heat, light, and which 
pervades all el< ; a power which eannot be called 
material, and which obeys only that will which evoked 
the universe and still sustains it. In short, all power 
may be traced up directly to the mind that created and 
manages all things" (34: 163-5). 

In discussing this subject we, for convenience, shall 
divide it into three parts or sections. 

I. Healing as Related to Disorders of Sensation 

By means of mental agencies it appears possible not 
only to perfect to a greater or less extent the organs of 
sensation, but also, within certain limits, to remedy 
imperfections of the same as well. Dr. Braid, referring 
to a person whom he had operated upon for deafness in 
carrying forward his hypnotic experiments, says: "The 
case of Nodan has already been referred to . . . and I 
shall therefore merely add here that he was twenty-four 
years old, was never considered to have had the power 
of hearing, properly so called, according to the opinion 
of the head master of the Deaf and Dumb Institution, 
where he was a pupil; that after the first operation I 

113 



114 Mind as a Cause and Care of Disease 

satisfied myself he had no sense of hearing, but after 
the second, which I carried still farther, he could hear, 
and was so annoyed by the noise of the carts and car- 
riages when going home after that operation that he 
could not be induced to call on me for some time. He 
has been operated on only a few times, and has been so 
much improved that although he lives in a back street he 
can now hear a band of music coming along the front 
street and will go out to meet it. I lately treated him 
and found he could hear in his room on the second floor 
a gentle knock on the bottom stair. His improvement, 
therefore, has been both decided and permanent, and is 
entirely attributable to hypnotism, as no other means 
were adopted in his case" (8:244). 

Alluding to the means whereby he was induced to 
treat cases of this kind and on the success that followed, 
he remarks: "The extraordinary excitement of the 
auditory organ, which I had observed in the course of 
my early experiments, and the fact that hearing was 
the last sense to disappear during this artificial sleep 
(unless w T e except that of the sensibility to a current of 
air) led me to anticipate most satisfactory results from 
this process in the treatment of deafness, arising from 
torpor of the auditory nerves. I consequently tried it 
in such cases, and where there has not been destruction, 
or irreparable organic injury to the auditory apparatus, 
I can confidently say I know of no means equal to 
hypnotism for benefiting such cases. Of course, it can- 
not suit all cases, and in some which bid defiance to all 
other known modes of treatment" (8:239). 

Farther on he asserts: "Moreover, from having wit- 
nessed its extraordinary power of rousing the excita- 
bility of the auditory nerves, I entertained the hope that 
it might thus be capable of exciting some degree of hear- 
ing from the increased sensibility of the nerves com- 
pensating for the imperfection of the organ. I was not, 
and am not even now, so visionary as to expect perfec- 



Princip ting 115 

tion of function where there is great imperfection of the 
organ. Perfection of organization and function must be 
coexistent; at least the function cannot be perfectly \ 
formed when the organization is much impaired. 

"The result of my first trial was beyond my most san- 
guine expectations, which induced me to persevere, and 
the result has been that I have scarcely met with a 
of congenital deaf mute where I have not succeeded in 
making the patient hear in some degree. . . . 

"I must not, however, omit to add that many cases 
may show no improvement at a first or second trial, and 
yet be very satisfactory after a few trials. A (cording 
to my experience there is much greater chance of bene- 
fiting congenital deaf mutes than those who have become 
so from dis< ase or bent of total loss of 

hearing' ' (8:241-2). 

The following r< ly, regarding vision, 

are very suggestive in this connection: "It was found 
by Himly that when the i 

stimulus is raised in the spectrum f colors. Thus 

violet becoi. An exactly op] i ob- 

served when the retina is torpid" (40:68). 

Not only in treating disorders of : aring but also of 
vision Dr. Braid seems to have met with remarkable 
success. Among other examples he cites the following: 
"Mrs. Stowe, aged 44 . . . has been troubled with 
weakness of sight for twenty-two years so as to require 
glasses to enable her to read or sew. When tested today 
April 8, 1S42. without her glasses, could not distinguish 
the large (capital) letters of advertisements in a news- 
paper, nor large heading of the paper. After being 
hypnotized for eight minutes she could distinctly read 
both the large and small heading and day, month and 
date of the paper. . . . 10th. called on me and informed 
me she had been able to make herself a blonde cap and 
to thread her needle without spectacles, which she could 
not do before for twenty-two years. 12th, continued 



116 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

improving; told me she had been able to write up her 
accounts without glasses. . . . This patient has re- 
tained the improvement of her sight" (8:233-4). 

The following case related by him is even more re- 
markable: "Mrs. C, aged 83, had, from her age, re- 
quired the use of glasses for many years, to enable her 
to sew or read. Last August I hypnotized her for deaf- 
ness, with very decided advantage, and I told her I also 
expected to improve her sight at the same time. She 
was very incredulous, but was agreeably surprised to 
find that after a second operation she was not only able 
to h car much better, but also to sew some flannel, thread- 
ing her needle ivithout her glasses. She had been thus 
occupied for several hours when I called to see her, after 
the second operation" (8:234-5). 

The fact that this lady was "incredulous" did not 
prevent her being benefited. Nor is incredulity or want 
of faith on the part of the patient any barrier to being 
healed by the hypnotic method, since the hypnotist, 
when he gets the patient under control, can arouse faith 
which, in most kinds of healing, plays a most important 
part. Yet Dr. Braid plainly states that he could not 
cure every case. Says he: "There have been cases in 
which I have tried this method without success. . . . 
Cases of confirmed amaurosis, which have resisted every 
other known remedy, and which were only undertaken 
by me at the desire of the patients and sometimes of 
medical men also, as a forlorn hope, have, as in most 
cases was suspected might be the result, proved unsuc- 
cessful" (8:235). 

Real defect of the organs of vision was, however, cured 
by Dr. Braid. The following case, although quite long, 
is so important that we give it in full: "Mrs. S., one 
of my own near relatives, had a severe rheumatic fever 
in January, 1839. During the course of this disease the 
left eye became implicated, involving both the internal 
and external structures of the organ. She had the 



"ing 117 

benefit of the advice of one of the first-rate oculists in 
Edinburgh. She was under his care till the August 
following, when he considered further attendance un- 
necessary, but gave such instructions as he deemed ex- 
pedient for her future management of it, and which 
had been duly attended to till the period when I first 
her, in June, 1842. At that time she came on a 
visit to my house. The as free from pain, but was 

of no service as an organ of vision. There was an 
opacity over more than one-half of the cornea, sufficient 
to prevent distinct perception of any object placed op- 
posite the temporal half of the eye. all being seen 
through a dense L r s placed towards the 

opposite side v . owing to the 

injury the choroid and retina had - in the 

points on which the images of Bach obj a re reflected. 
The opacity of the was not only an obstacle to 

distinct vision, but wafl source of annoyance from 

its disfigurement, being obvious even to those at a con- 
siderable distance. 

"Notwithstanding tl r advantage I had seen 

other patients afflicted with affection of the eyes derive 
from hypnotism, it never occurred to me that such a 
case as that of Mj o be benefited by 

such an operation. I had, r. recommended it to 

her for a severe rheumatic affection of the right shoulder 
and arm. She had been in my house for about tl. 
months before she could make up her mind to undergo 
the operation, but at length the violence of the pain 
impelled her to try it, or anything else I should recom- 
mend. I of course hypnotized her, which immediately 
relieved her pain so much that after the first operation 
she could move the arm freely. The operation was 
repeated the following day, with complete relief as 
regarded the arm ; and to the surprise and delight of 
the patient, myself and others present she found her 
sight so much improved as to be able to see everything in 



118 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

the room, and to name different flowers, and distin- 
guished their colors, whilst the right eye was shut, which 
she had not been able to do for more than three years 
and a half previously. I consequently now repeated 
the operation daily, and in a very short time had the 
satisfaction of seeing the cornea so transparent that it 
requires close inspection to observe where any opacity 
remains. Neither external nor internal means were 
used during this improvement, nothing but the hypno- 
tizing was had recourse to ; and during the three months 
I had an opportunity of watching it prior to these opera- 
tions, there was no visible change in the condition of 
the organ. I should observe that after the first opera- 
tion there was considerable smarting in the eye, which 
continued all night, and, in a less degree, after future 
operations, which, no doubt, roused the absorbents, and 
effected the removal of the opacity of the cornea. Stim- 
ulating the optic nerve to greater activity, however, 
must have been the chief cause of the very rapid im- 
provement which enabled her to see objects after sec- 
ond operation. I should remark that the sight, with re- 
gard to objects seen from the temporal side of the eye, 
is much more distinct than from the nasal side, owing 
to the retina and choroid having sustained irreparable 
damage during the inflammatory stage at the commence- 
ment of the attack of 1839" (8:236-8). 

Having given the results of similar experiments Dr. 
Braid observes : ' ' Here, then, we have seen three cases 
of improved vision consequent on hypnotizing for other 
affections; and where, consequently, the improvement 
could not at all be attributable to imagination, but to the 
altered condition in the capillary circulation and distri- 
bution of the vis nervosa " (8:238-9). 

Says Miiller : ' ' The idea that a structural defect will 
certainly be removed by a certain act increases the or- 
ganic action of the part and sometimes produces a cure. 
Hence the cure of warts by what is called sympathy. 



Principles of Mental Healing 119 

... In such cures the mental idea . . . merely excites 
an increase of the natural nutritive process. The natural 
organic action being increased is inimical to the exist- 
ence of a morbid growth, such as a wart ; and, hence, 
the latter wastes" (2: vol. II, 1398-9, 140 

Likewise Dr. Tuke, speaking of the "influence which 
we cannot doubt that mental states may, under favorable 
circumstances, exercise upon absorption." ol 
"Professor Laycock has maintained 'the possibility of 
a lymph deposit being absorbed from an opaque cornea 
by ihe daily direction of the Attention to the part for 
a prolonged period by means of mesmeric | If 

this be so, we have a fact, the principle contained in 
which forms a most important basis for the practical 
treatment of some diseases. It is in enti ordance 

with the physiological law laid down by Midler: 'An 
idea that a structural detect will certainly be remo 
by a certain act increases the organic action of the 
part' " (6:138). 

The results obtained by Dr. Braid in a state of hyp- 
nosis can be effected without the patient being hyp- 
notized or unconscious just as well, provided the same 
mental states are produced, as is evident from the cases 
mentioned under sections II and III which follow. In 
Chapter I we gave examples, showing how easily cer- 
tain mental states paralyze or render useless an organ 
of sensation (see page 5). They are, however, equally 
potent in remedying disorders of this kind. Take, for 
example, the following as an illustration: It is said 
that during a Revival held in Ireland "a great number 
were smitten down suddenly, and fell as nerveless and 
paralyzed and powerless as if killed instantly by a gun- 
shot.' ' Among these is mentioned the case of a girl, 
who in the midst of the excitement fell down instantly, 
deprived of speech and sight. Medical treatment was 
resorted to, but in vain. She remained in this condition 
for eighteen hours, when, being present again at the 



120 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

meetings, she was instantly healed. "Mental impres- 
sions, similar to those which caused, cured the malady' 9 
(6:247-8). 

Incidents of this nature go to prove that where a 
disorder of the senses has been caused by a mental state 
it not unf requently can be cured by the same agency. 
Nor will it make any difference whatever by what device 
the emotion conducive to healing is brought into opera- 
tion. Dr. Braid appears to have had remarkable success 
in dealing with maladies of this kind by the hypnotic 
method. 

Furthermore, just as it is possible by hypnotic meth- 
ods to deprive a person of sensation through a given 
organ by an impression alone, no real change in all 
probability having been produced on the organ itself, 
so, it would seem, this sometimes occurs in ordinary 
life. In cases of this kind, as in hypnotism, all that is 
needful to effect a cure is simply to dispel the delusion. 
The following case related by an eminent Boston phy- 
sician may doubtless be classified under this head: A 
person had gone to oculist after oculist, all of whom 
could find no trouble with his eyes. At length two 
doctors decided to try the following experiment : It was 
arranged that the patient should look through a long 
hollow tube obtained for the occasion. Just before mak- 
ing the trial the physicians, in the presence of this per- 
son, discussed very seriously and earnestly remarkable 
cases of healing claimed to have been effected by this 
method of treatment, in order to make as potent an 
impression on the patient's mind as possible. When 
the impression had been made sufficiently strong, the 
tube was handed to the patient and almost immediately 
after he placed it to his eyes his sight was restored. 
Says Dr. Moore: "A man was wounded at the battle 
of Austerlitz, and ever after he was insanely convinced 
that he had no bodily existence; and there seemed to 
be no method of convincing him to the contrary; for, 



Principles of Mental Healing 121 

in fact, he was not sensible of anything done to his 
body unless he saw the action : feeling was quite absent. 
Whether this affection arose from an impression first 
received on his mind, or on his body, it is difficult to dis- 
cover; but it is certain that such maladies are sometimes 
cured by merely convincing the mind of its mistake" 
(34:204). 

Speaking of the power of the mind to produce sensa- 
tion as related to feeling, Dr. Take ol> "We have 
seen that a vivid idea, d< directed to a certain 
locality, may, without generating any emotion, induce 
a sensation. We have adduced the experience of John 
Hunter. 'I am confident/ he said, 'that I can fix my 
attention to any pari until I have a sensation in that 
part'; words which ought to be inscribed in letters of 
gold over the entrance of B Hospital for the Cure of 
Disease by Psychopathy. Hunter's confident assertion 
is the more interesting b drawn from his own 
experience, it shows that the principle is not confined 
in its operation to the susceptible and nervous, but op- 
erates even on men of the highest mental endowments. 
And if calm, unimpai it can thus affect 
sensation, how much more profoundly will an intense 
emotion, as Pear or Joy?" (6:156). 

The following from the same author shows that the 
sensation produced at will may be of a painful nature: 
"The influence of Volition on common sensation is 
illustrated by the following case : A distinguished phy- 
sician in the province of Anders is able to produce at 
any time of the day, in any part of the body, by his Will, 
a more or less severe pain, variable in intensity, and the 
ease of inducing it, according to the part of the body. 
In the joints the pain irradiates to every part of the 
limb below; in the cervical region to the whole head; in 
the back there is a sense of constriction in the chest; 
if in the loins, there is pain in the abdomen. It is, how- 
ever, in the palms of the hands that these effects of the 



122 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Will in inducing sensation are best marked. Elsewhere 
the pain disappears whenever the Will producing i1 
ceases to be exerted, but in the hands the pain persists 
for a long time and even smarts severely, and he can only 
escape it by a powerful distraction of mind. It must 
be added that during the time the doctor induces this 
pain in a part of his body, the pulsation of the vessels 
is sensibly increased in the locality" (6:364). 

Moreover, if the attention be centred upon the sensa* 
tion it is greatly intensified. Says Komberg: "If the 
imagination dwells upon the sensation, the latter be* 
comes more intense and more defined; the power of 
imagination may create sensations, as proved by the 
feeling of nausea or prurigo, and a morbid condition 
termed hypochondriasis" (29: vol. 1, 6). 

On the other hand, as we should naturally expect if 
the attention is diverted from the sensation it is cor- 
respondingly weakened. For instance, Dr. Hall asserts : 
"A more acute pain will frequently obliterate another 
before existing, though the causes of the latter are still 
actively present. Or, when suffering under severe bodily 
pain, if the mind be suddenly drawn away to some train 
of thought or moral feeling, the physical sensations will 
often totally cease; renewed only when the objects and 
direction of consciousness are again changed" (20 : 57-8). 

This statement is both corroborated and proved in the 
following passage from Dr. Tuke: "The distraction of 
the attention from impressions made upon the sensory 
nerves, whether painful or pleasurable, when the mind 
is under the influence of powerful Emotions, notoriously 
interferes with or entirely prevents the mind's percep- 
tion of them: this principle forms the foundation of a 
large class of cases of psychical anaesthesia. Rapt in 
ecstasy, the devotee feels neither cold nor wounds. In 
those cases of hypnotism in which anaesthesia, but not 
complete sleep, is induced, the immunity from pain 
arises from the occupation of the thoughts or ideas in 



Prii of Mi ntal II > si 123 

another direction. ( > . in tin i which 

there is profound dumber, the insensibility is not due 

to the same principle, although tin y have been 

originally produced by mental influences. Mr. Braid 
found that if a patient c an operation, his sug- 

gestions and hi vor to absorb the mind in another 

subject were apt to prove un il. This, how* 

does not necessarily involve emotional excitement, though 
it is, no doubt, often present 

"The battle-field constantly affords examples of the 
influence of an engrossing emotion in blunting sensa- 
tion. In reporting the battle of Monte Rotundo (18* 
a spectator writes in the Cornhill Magazi/<< : 'Ail 
long the battle raged; the troops were fainting with 
hunger and fatigue. Certainly they were the liveli 
most patient set of sufferers I 
of victor}i chloroformed tt " (6:163-4). 

Another interesting example oi this kind ia rdal 
by Dr. Carpenter. Says he: "Some oi' Ball's 

most eloquent discourses srere poured forth whilst he 
was suffering under a bodily disorder which him 

to roll in agony on the floor when rofld the 

pulpit; yet he w r as entirely onoonscionfl of the irritation 
of his nerves by the calculus which shot forth its jagged 
points through the whole substance of his kidney, so 
long as his soul continued to be 'possessed' by the great 
subjects on which a powerful effort of his Will originally 
fixed it" (30:138). 

The following, too, by Dr. Moore is to the same effect : 
"Many diseases are produced, increased, and perpetu- 
ated by the attention being directed to the disordered 
part; but employment which diverts the attention from 
disease often cures it. Every one who has had a tooth 
drawn knows the charm of expecting the final agony: 
a sight of the operator or the instruments has put the 
pain to flight. The celebrated metaphysician, Kant, 
was able to forget the pain of gout by a voluntary effort 



124 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

of thought, but it always caused a dangerous rush of 
blood to the head' ' (34:191). 

The cases just mentioned illustrate the power of cer- 
tain mental states to alleviate pain when present. Says 
Dr. Carpenter: "Before the introduction of Chloro- 
form, patients sometimes went through severe operations 
without giving any sign of pain, and afterwards de- 
clared that they felt none; having concentrated their 
thoughts, by a powerful effort of abstraction, on some 
subject which held them engaged throughout" (30 : 138) . 

We will now cite cases to show how, by diverting the 
attention, it may be prevented in part or altogether, 
taking for our first illustration the following by Dr. 
Tuke : " It is unnecessary ... to do more than to refer 
in illustration to the notorious fact that the expectation 
of the pain of an actual blow on any part of the body 
greatly intensifies it. It is, in short, the converse of 
the other truth that pain is not felt, or only slightly 
felt, when the Attention is directed in a different 
channel. . . . 

"Insensibility to bodily pain, artificially induced, 
without drugs and solely by psychical means, is a most 
interesting and important fact. . . . 

"The simplest example of anaesthesia due to intellec- 
tual condition occurs when the Attention is so power- 
fully arrested in a certain channel that the application 
of a painful stimulus to the body is not observed. The 
writer was on one occasion about to have a tooth ex- 
tracted under the influence of laughing gas, when, in 
consequence of an unlooked for contretemps, the dentist 
was unable to administer it. The extraction was there- 
fore performed without it, but the operation was ren- 
dered almost painless by the writer vividly imagining 
pleasant ideas, and mentally repeating to himself, 'How 
delightful! how delightful!' " (6:58). 

This, too, by Dr. Cooke is even more remarkable: "A 
delicate lady was suffering from a tumor of the breast 



Principles of Mental Healing 125 

of great magnitude. When she first consulted tho 
writer, she shrank from all idea of an operation; palli- 
ative measures were employed, but disease advanced, 
strength failed, and death appeared near. The inhei 
recoil from death led the patient now to i her 

willingness to endure an operation. The husband ex- 
pressed reluctance to give consent unl 98 she woi. 
mit to the use of ether, hut her answer I should 

dread that as much as the op< tor if I 

danger, 1 can not endure the thought of having my 
mind confused. 1 Her Eriend and miniato pi 
merism on her, but this she scornfuli. 
in reference to both, 'J have been accustomed I 
in God, and having now made up my mind to the oj< 
tion, I shall Cfi on divine support.' She did 

this, and weak and delicaJ the 

removal of a man nearly live pounds in weight with 
a patience that would have secured great credit for 
mesmerism had it been employed" (15: 3S). 

Moreover, the following statement and example by 
Dr. Laycock are equally appropriate in tl lection: 

"If the attention be concentrated in one set of nerves, 
others are in a state analogous to paralysis. Marine, 
an Italian poet, while revising his poem, 'Adonis,' 
perienced this paralysis so remarkably that he burnt 
his leg before he was aware. How often when absorbed 
in thought do loud sounds fall on the ear unnoticed" 
(19:110). 

Another case of this kind, but even more remarkable, 
appeared in the Journal of a Naturalist and "was fully 
confirmed by Sir. Richard Smith, the late senior Sur- 
geon of the Bristol Infirmary, under whose care the 
sufferer had been." It runs as follows: "A traveling 
man one winter's evening laid himself down upon the 
platform of a lime-kiln, placing his feet, probably 
numbed with cold, upon the heap of stones newly put 
on to burn through the night. Sleep overcame him in 



126 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

this situation; the fire gradually rising and increasing 
until it ignited the stones upon which his feet were 
placed. Lulled by the warmth, the man slept on; the 
fire increased until it burned one foot (which probably 
was extended over a vent-hole) and part of the leg above 
the ankle entirely off, consuming that part so effectually 
that a cinder-like fragment was alone remaining, — and 
still the wretch slept on ! and in this state was found by 
the kiln-man in the morning. Insensible to any pain, 
and ignorant of his misfortune, he attempted to rise 
and pursue his journey ; but missing his shoe, requested 
to have it found; and when he was raised, putting his 
burnt limb to the ground to support his body, the ex- 
tremity of his leg-bone, the tibia, crumbled into frag- 
ments, having been calcined into lime. Still he ex- 
pressed no sense of pain, and probably experienced none, 
from the gradual operation of the fire, and his own tor- 
pidity during the hours his foot was consuming. This 
poor drover survived his misfortunes in the hospital 
about a fortnight ; but the fire having extended to other 
parts of his body, recovery was hopeless" (30:172). 

Other very striking illustrations are to be found in 
the martyrs. Commenting on cases of this kind Dr. 
Carpenter observes: "Many a martyr has suffered at 
the stake with a calm serenity that he declared himself 
to have no difficulty in maintaining; his entranced at- 
tention being so engrossed by the beatific visions which 
presented themselves to his enraptured gaze that the 
burning of his body gave him no pain whatever' 9 
(30:138). 

Says Dr. Moore: "The history of martyrdom sup- 
plies a multitude of instances which convincingly demon- 
strate the dominion of the soul over the body. . . . 
Lambert, when consuming in a slow fire by order of the 
bigoted and cruel Henry, cried in his torments and in 
his death, ' None but Christ, none but Christ ! ' Cranmer, 
when repenting of the weakness that induced him to sub- 



Principles of Mental J I 127 

scribe to papal doctrines, held lis hand unflinchingly in 
the flames until entirely o sailing aloud. 'V 

hand has offended, this hand has offended! 1 . . . 

"Mr. Ilawkes, also, bring entreated by his friends to 
give them some token that the fire was not so intoler- 
able but that a man might keep hii quiet and 
patient, assented; and, if so, he promised that he would 
lift his hands above hit before 
witness states that at the stake he mildly addressed him- 
self to the flames, and win h was taken a 
and his skin drawn alto and his flngei 
sinned so that all thought him dead, 1 ibranee 
of his pro: tddenly lifted up his burning hands 
and clapped them together three ti: great 
joy. James Bainham, also, having half hu and 
legs consumed, spake these words: 'Ye look for mir- 
acles! Here, now, ye may see one. This fire is a 
of roses to me. 1 " ( -7). 

The following statement and examples regarding the 
early Christian martyrs are from Outlines of 
astical History, by B srles A. Goodrich: "In 

order to make them recant and abandon their pn 
sion, the most cruel tortures were inflicted. The in- 
human ruler commanded them to be 1 with 
whips, to be scorched by applying heated brazen plates 
to the most tender parts of the body. To prepare them 
for a renewal of such barbarous treatment, they were 
remanded to prison, and again brought forth, some to a 
repetition of similar cruelties; others to die under the 
hands of their persecutors. Various were the ways in 
which the martyrs were put to death ; some were thrown 
to the beasts, others roasted in an iron chain, and many 
were beheaded (43:82-3). 

"Amidst the numberless melancholy apostasies which 
are recorded of these times, and which were deeply 
wounding to the cause of Christianity ; there were those, 
also, who rendered themselves illustrious by their steady 



128 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

adherence to the faith, even amid the pains of mar- 
tyrdom. 

"Such an example is presented in Pionius, a pres- 
byter of the Church in Smyrna. . . . His executioner 
having gotten ready the materials for the martyrdom, 
Pionius stretched himself upon the stake, to which he 
was nailed by the soldier. ' Change your mind (said 
the executioner) and the nails shall be taken out again.' 
'I have felt them/ said the martyr; and then, after a 
few moments' thought, added, '0 Lord, I hasten.' 

' ' The stake was then raised up with the martyr fixed 
to it, and placed in the socket prepared for it, and the 
fire was lighted. For some time Pionius remained mo- 
tionless — his eyes shut and his spirit evidently in holy 
converse with God. At length, opening his eyes, with 
a cheerful countenance, he said, 'Amen — Lord, receive 
my soul' (43:89-90). . . . 

"At Rome the first person of official distinction who 
suffered in pursuance of Valerian's orders was Sixtus, 
the bishop of that city. On his way to execution he 
was followed by Laurentius, his chief deacon; who 
weeping, said, 'Whither goest thou, father, without thy 
son?' To w T hich Sixtus replied, 'You shall follow me in 
three days.' 

"The prophecy of Sixtus was fulfilled. After the 
death of the bishop, the Roman prefect, moved by an 
idle report of the great riches of the Church, sent for 
Laurentius, and ordered him to deliver them up. 'Give 
me time,' said Laurentius, 'to set things in order, and 
I will render an account.' 

"Three days were granted for the purpose, during 
which the deacon gathered together all the poor who 
were supported by the Church, and going to the prefect, 
invited him to go and behold a large court full of golden 
vessels. The magistrate followed; but seeing all the 
poor people, he turned upon Laurentius with a look of 
indignation. 'Why are you displeased?' demanded the 



Principles of Mental Healing 129 

martyr. 'The treasure which you so eagerly desire is 
l)ut a contemptible mineral dug from the earth; — these 
poor people are the true gold, these are the treasure! I 
promised you — make the riches subserve the best inter- 
a of Rome, of the emperor, and of yourself.' 
11 'Do you mock met 9 demanded the prefect. 4 I know 
you value yourself for contemning death ; and, there- 
fore, it shall be lingering and painful.' He then caused 
him to be Stripped and : 1 to a gridiron, upon 

which he was broiled to death. The fortitude of the 

martyr, however, was invincible Wh<-n he had con- 
tinued a considerable time on one ride, he said. t heA 

be turned, I am sufficiently broiled on one side.' Being 
turned, he exclaimed, k It is enough, you ma; me 

up.' Then lifting up his ren, he for 

the conversion of Home, and 

There is, however, another elasi i - which par- 

takes of the nature of self-hypnotization. Take, for in- 
stance, the following example of "imaginary or psy- 
chical anesthesia 91 related by Mr. Woodhov ine, 
connected with the Charing Cross Eospital: "During 
the year 1862 1 was called apOJ to give 
chloroform to a very nervous and highly hysterical 
girl who was about to have two sebaceous tumors of 
the scalp removed. On going into the operating theatre, 
it was found that the bottle containing the chloroform 
had been removed to the dispensary, and on testing the 
Snow's inhaler which at that time I was in the habit 
of using, I found it to be quite devoid of even any smell 
of chloroform. Then, having sent for the bottle, in 
order to accustom the girl to the face-piece, I applied 
it to her face and she at once began to breathe rapidly 
through it. When she had done this for about half a 
minute she said, 'Oh, I feel it, I feel I am going off/ 
and as the chloroform bottle had not arrived, she was 
told to go on breathing quietly. At this time her hand, 
which had been resting across her chest, slipped down 



130 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

by her side, and as she did not replace it, I thought I 
would pinch her arm gently to see the amount of dis- 
comfort her hysterical state would induce her to bear. 
She did not notice a gentle pinch, and so I pinched her 
harder, and then as hard as I could, and to my surprise 
I found that she did not seem to feel at all. Finding 
this was the case I asked the operator to begin, and he 
incised one of the tumors, and then, as the cyst was 
only slightly adherent, pulled it away. At this time 
I had removed the face-piece, and wishing to see the 
effect of her imagination, I said to the operator, who 
was going to remove the second tumor, 'wait a minute, 
she seems to be coming round.' Instantly her respira- 
tion, which had been quite quiet, altered in character, 
becoming rapid, as when I first applied the inhaler, and 
she commenced moving her arms about. I then reap- 
plied the face-piece and her breathing again became 
quiet and she submitted to the second operation without 
moving a muscle, and when the water dressing and 
bandages were applied, in answer to the question as to 
whether she had felt anything, she said, 'No, I was 
quite unconscious of all that was done,' and to the time 
she left the hospital she firmly believed in the potency 
of the anaesthetic which had been administered" 
(6:59-60). 

Cases like this go to show that it is not remarkable 
strength of mind or an act of will by the hypnotist that 
hypnotizes another, but rather concentration of thought 
and expectation on the part of the person hypnotized. 
Moreover, there are persons who can effect this volun- 
tarily and thereby render themselves insensible to pain 
at will. Says Dr. Moore: "In the practice of abstrac- 
tion, such as it is, the devotees of Buddhism far excel our 
philosophers. It is indeed the highest attainment of 
that superstition for persons so far to abstract them- 
selves as to become unconscious of all external existence. 
Thus, we find individuals among them habitually sub- 



I } ri 131 

mitting, with the mosl profound composure, to inflic- 
tions and iiifli; hich, to ordinary mortals, would 
induce the most terrible tol y really do not 
feel them, because they determine not to feel. 

"The Fakirs invert tie at contemplation 

on the ceiling, then, gradually looking down, they fix 
both eyes, squinting at the tip of the nose, until, as they 
say, the bit oew light beam upon them. The 

monks of Mount Athos were accustomed, in a manner 
equally ridiculous and with the same success, to hold 
converse, as they fancied, with the Deity. Allatius thus 
Bribes the ditf ring tin ial joys 

of Omphalopqychian contemplation: — 'Press thy beard 
upon thy breast, turn thine eyes and thoughts upon the 
middle of thine abdonn and nights, 

and thou shall know uninterrupted joys, when thy 

spirit shall have found out thy heart and illuminated 
itself.' St. Augustine m< (raid, at 

will, fall into these ecstacies, in whicl were so 

forsaken by his soul that he did not experience the 
pangs of the torture 91 (34:104-5). 

The following remarks concerning Cardan, who de- 
clared that "it runs in a blood among the Turks for 
persons to cast themselves into an ecstaey at pleasure" 
(24:87), are from the same author: k * Cardan must 
have been subject to some singular disease, for he says, 
'Whenever I wish it, I can go out of my body so as to 
feel no sensation whatever, as if I were in ecstaey. When 
I enter this state, or, more properly speaking, when I 
plunge myself into ecstasy, I feel my soul issuing out 
of my heart, and, as it were, quitting it, as well as the 
rest of my body, through a small aperture formed at 
first in the head and particularly in the cerebellum. 
This aperture, which runs down the spinal column, can 
only be kept open by great effort. In this situation I 
feel nothing but the bare consciousness of existing out 
of my own body, from which I am distinctly separated. 



132 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

But I cannot remain in this state more than a very few 
moments 9 '" (34:197-8). 

Perhaps, however, the most noted examples of this 
type are to be found in the Convulsionists of St. Medard. 
Dr. Tuke observes : ' ' The Convulsionnaires of St. Medard 
in 1731 serve as examples of anaesthesia. As numbers 
of these persons were thrown into this peculiar con- 
dition by causes known to be directly and purely mental, 
they admit of separation from cases of hysteria of 
vague or unknown origin, and may therefore be fairly 
employed as illustrations of the influence of emotional 
excitement upon the sensibility of the body. They were 
usually complicated with disorder of the motor system, 
especially a spasmodic condition of the muscles. 

"The work of Carre de Montgeron, La Verite des 
Miracles, contains the most astonishing recitals of the 
blows to which the convulsionnaires were subjected at 
their own desire, without pain, and, according to this 
author, without any visible effect. Calmeil, however, 
observes that 'many of these fanatics deceived them- 
selves greatly in imagining themselves to be invulner- 
able, for there has been scores of times undeniable proof 
given that many amongst them showed, after the cruel 
infliction of blows which they solicited, large patches of 
discoloration under the skin, and innumerable con- 
tusions on the surface, which had borne the most severe 
assaults. ' 

"In the case of the convulsionnaire Nisette, 'She was 
struck on the head with a log, then with four logs, and 
then had the four members pulled in different direc- 
tions. ... At length two men stood on her body; 
then one man stood on her back; two others dragged 
up her arms, and gave her the strapado. They pulled 
her arms and legs, one person being on her stomach; 
they suspended her by the feet; then balanced her by 
the arms and legs, a man being on her back; then they 
turned her round like a spit; then again dragged her 



Principles of Mental Healing 133 

by the four members, two persons also pulling from 
below the shoulders. This pulling continued for a 1< 

time, because there were only six persons to pull 
After that, they again gave her the strapado and 
ordinary sapo n la m\ then they trod her on 

foot, fifteen p< it a time.' 

"The insensibility to pain in those c -pears to 

have been complete. The slight extent to which the 
internal organs suffered seems to [plained by 

the extreme rigidity of tie marked 

feature of the phenomena — a rigidity so frequently | 
duced with great ease by hvpnotic manipulations" 
(6:162-3). 

"The impression of an injui Dp. Moore, "ia 

not perceived until the mind voln >s upon the 

part affected, or until the attention ifl withdrawn from 
whatever may at the I This 

circumstance affords a positive proof thai ion and 

sensibility are mental states or mental cognitions of 
bodily impression. 

"But sensation is modified both by the condition of 
the body and by the state of the mind with regard to 
it. Thus we find that, in I ttliar condition of 

mind and body attending mesmeric sleep (according 
to the testimony of honest wil whom I the more 

readily believe from what I have seen), persons may 
have their limbs removed without pain, and the ex- 
posed extremities of the divided nerves being roughly 
handled, causes only a sense of titillation, under which 
the patient laughs like a tickled child. Pain, indeed, 
is but the excess of an impression which, in a milder 
form, is pleasure; and the same degree of impression 
is either one or the other, according to the state of 
attention at the time, or according to the association of 
the mind. In many respects, pain is really an acquired 
feeling, like fear, and it arises from the mind being 
taught to associate certain sensations with the idea of 



134 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

danger. Thus when the Esquimaux first had razors 
given to them, they used to gash their tongues- for the 
pleasure of the new sensation of being cut with so keen 
an instrument ; but after they, learned there was danger 
in such wounds, they never cut themselves without an 
expression of pain" (33:48). 

Likewise, Prof. Dubois, commenting on the cause of 
pain, observes : ' ' Properly speaking, there is no physical 
suffering ; it is always psychic, even when it results from 
a traumatism or anatomical lesion. We suffer in our 
sentient ego; these are the facts of consciousness inter- 
polated everywhere, and that is why the role of psycho- 
therapy, properly understood, is so large" (31:455). 

Speaking of "psychical anaesthetics, ' ' Dr. Tuke re- 
marks: "Dr. Esdaile, in his Introduction of Mesmerism 
(with the sanction of the Government) into the Public 
Hospitals of Indm, . . . records 261 operations per- 
formed by him in the hospitals of Hooghly and Cal- 
cutta, rendered painless by mesmerism. Of these 200 
consisted of the removal of large tumors from 10 pounds 
to 103 pounds in weight. In a hospital called the Sub- 
scription Hospital, there had also been eighty-four cap- 
ital operations performed under the same influence. In 
addition to these 345 operations smaller ones were per- 
formed, as teeth extraction, application of nitric acid 
to large wounds, abscesses opened, etc. . . . 

"The Marquis of Dalhousie wrote in 1856, June 27, 
in reference to Esdaile 's psychical anaesthetic: 'Of the 
efficacy of it in surgical cases I am able to speak with 
confidence. Dr. Esdaile undoubtedly did possess the 
faculty of so influencing the sensations of natives of 
India by means of mesmerism as to reduce them to a 
state of insensibility not less complete than that which 
is now produced by the use of chloroform. While they 
were in that state of insensibility he performed upon 
them surgical operations of every kind; many of them 
tremendous in their magnitude, duration and severity. 



Principles of Mental Heal 

Those operations were performed without any apparent 
consciousness in the patient, without pain to him, and 
usually with great success. ' . . . 

"It is a remarkable fact that in all, or nearly all, his- 
tories of anaesthetics, psychical an re not even 
mentioned. Yet they ) 1 drug-J and to 
a large extent suggested it" (6:61-6:; 

II. Healing as Related to Disorders of the V 
and of the Organic ! 

More than half a century ago John Hunter laid down 
the following laws which form the foundation of all 
Mental or Psychic Healing: 

" There is not a natural action in the Body, whether 
involuntary or voluntary, that may not be influenced by 
the peculiar state of the mind at the time (6:1 Pref- 
ace). . . . 

"Every part of the body sympathizes with the mind, 
for whatever affects the mind, the body is affected in 
proportion" (6:98). 

A decade or so later Dr. Cooke expressed the effects 
of the mind upon the body as a cause and cure of dis- 
ease in these words: 

"It will be seen in the sequel that all the vicious emo- 
tions have a tendency to injure the functions of the 
body, and that the virtuous have a contrary tendency: 
so that we do well to know how to banish the one and to 
cherish the other (15:21V . . . 

"The malevolent emotions all tend to our injury — the 
Christian religion thoroughly embraced represses them ; 
the benevolent emotions sustain health, and open to us 
some of the most exalted pleasures — it develops them" 
(15:44-5). 

Likewise, later still, Dr. Tuke stated this same idea 
concisely as follows : 

"It may, doubtless, be laid down as a general prin- 



136 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

ciple that pleasurable emotions increase the activity of 
the vital functions, and painful ones depress them" 
(6:268). 

This topic* we shall present under seven heads, each 
expressing a prominent characteristic of the mind 
through which the healing takes place. Moreover, we 
shall begin each sub-topic with one or more statements, 
exemplified or made plain in the illustrations which fol- 
low, while, in every instance, both statements and illus- 
trations are composed of quotations or extracts alone. 

1. Attention to an Organ or Part 

STATEMENTS 

Ideation, under certain circumstances, is, in its in- 
fluence on the sensorium, as powerful as anything in the 
outer w r orld (6:49). 

Ideas exert much more power over the organic func- 
tions when directed towards them (6: 133). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Of the following case Mr. B. himself informed me : A 
lady w T ho w r as leaving off nursing from defect of milk, 
the baby being thirteen months old, was hypnotized by 
him. He made passes over the right breast to call her 
attention to it, and in a few moments her gestures show r ed 
that she dreamt the baby was sucking. In two minuted 
the breast was distended with milk. She was awake, 
and on being questioned whether any part of her frame 
felt differently from the rest she perceived the -state of 
her bosom and mentioned it, to. which Mr. B. replied 
that the baby would soon settle that. The infant was 
nearly choked with the rush of milk. In three days she 
came back to Mr. B. and complained that he had dis- 
figured her, for she was protuberant on one side. He 
promised to take the swelling down ; hypnotized her, but 



Principles of Mental Ilealing 137 

drew the other side also by the like means, and she 
nursed her child from an overflowing bosom for twenty- 
two months, being nine after the hypnotism (9:47 

A gentleman, somewhat hypochondriacal, required a 
daily aperient, being costive from sedentary pursuits. 
When medicine lost its effect, he applied to a medical 
man for advice, who, seating his patient before him with 
the abdomen uncovered, requested him to direct his 
attention exclusively to the - ns he i ced 

in that region, acting upon hifl K ; tation by assuring 
him that the desired action of the bowels would be 
secured, and pointing with hi along the course 

of the arch of the colon and small intestines, so that his 
current of thought might pursue that direction. The 
experiment ortly era I, "and. for some time 

after, the bowels continued to act freely without medi- 
cine" (6:431). 

The efficacy of an ideal purgative in exciting the peris- 
taltic action of the intestines i> well illustrated in the 
following case: . . . 

"Dr. S all his life had the greatest horror of tak- 
ing medicine, although fully admitting the beneficial 
and necessary effects of it, and constantly prescribing 
it judiciously for others; he consequently never took it. 
After a certain period of life, however, he began to 
experience a torpidity of the bowels and all the conse- 
quent uneasiness, rendering it apparent to himself that 
relief could only be obtained by the means he prescribed 
to his patients, namely, the taking of mecidine. After 
due deliberation, accordingly, and conflict with himself, 
he decided upon taking some, and imagining that an 
ordinary dose of salts would answe'r all the purpose, and 
be less nauseous than most others, he carefully mixed 
one, and laid it by his bedside at night to be taken in 
the morning when he first woke. The proximity of it, 
however, and the impression on his mind of the horrible 
dose which awaited his first waking, banished sleep from 



138 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

his eyes and kept it continually before him. At length, 
however, he did sleep, and even the vision did not leave 
him, but, like the haunting phantom of the roasting pig 
to the slumbering glutton, it assumed various guises and 
positions to his mind, the difference alone being that his 
was more purely imaginary, as he had not swallowed the 
cause of the mental disturbance, which the other had, 
but suffered from the anticipation. At length, however, 
he awoke, and so far from requiring the prepared medi- 
cine found all occasion for it removed by an effort of 
nature, and from that time he declares he has nothing 
to do when suffering from torpid bowels but to lay a 
dose by his bedside at night, and that it as effectually 
acts as if he had swallowed it" (6: 127-8). 

2. Joy or Delight 

STATEMENTS 

When our desires are gratified there results mental 
pleasure — Joy. When, on the contrary, they are dis- 
appointed, there arises mental pain — Grief or Sorrow. 
Such are emotions as regards their quality, but they 
vary also in their quantitative character. Again, they 
may be manifested in very different degrees of intensity 
and force from the slight ripple to the resistless wave; 
and, lastly, they may differ in their persistence. It is 
obvious that, as these characters vary, the influence of 
the emotion upon the body will be modified (6:142-3). 

As the state of the mind is capable of producing a dis- 
ease another state of it may effect a cure (1 : vol. 1, 144). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dr. Brierre de Boismont adds to a case illustrative of 
mental action upon the liver and stomach one which 
similarly illustrates the effect produced upon the motor 
system : 



Principles of Menial Healing 139 

"A little peasant girl, Luna BCarini, <ight years old, 
was separated for some time from her mother, a patient 
in the hospital. She had often begged to be taken to 
see her mother, but her relations, thinking it only 
'caprice,' always refusal. The child often repaired to 
the church to pour out her grief, and was om md 

at the foot of the altar sobbing and almost deprived of 
consciousness. Shortly after appeared symptoms of an 
affection of the oerebro-spinal axis, delirium, headache 
and inability to stand. Leeches were applied to the 
head, and a seton inserted in the neck. Thi- ient 

relieved these symptoms, except the i and on 

account of this she was 

was she in her bed than _rged again with fa 

('caprice') to see and embrace hear moth* doctor 

(kinder, as is so often ttn than the friends of the 

patient) immediately ordered her request to be granted. 
Carried in the arms of the nurse to her mother's bed 
she threw herself upon her neck, covered her with t< 
earnestly inquired after her health, and seemed as if 
she could not caress her enough. After awhile she 
requested to have her mother and return to her bed. 
On their attempting to carry her she sprang to her feet 
and cried out with delight that she had recovered the 
use of them. She regained her bed without effort or 
fatigue. During the time — about ten days — that she 
remained in the hospital no unfavorable symptoms re- 
turned, and she occupied herself in assiduously waiting 
upon her mother" (6: 259-60). 

Tissot records the following: A man of letters 
reached an advanced stage of phthisis, when he consulted 
a physician. At this period he happened to obtain fresh 
literary distinction, and was fortunate in other ways, 
the consequence being that he was greatly delighted. 
The physical effect was that his pulmonary affection 
was suspended and remained stationary for a long time 
(6:408-9). 



140 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 
3. Anger and Fear or a Sadden Shock 

STATEMENTS 

As substances most prejudicial and even poisonous to 
the healthy organism may exercise medicinal virtues in 
certain states of disease, so extreme anger, although 
generally baneful in its effects, has, by its powerful 
impulse, occasionally subdued distressing and obstinate 
maladies, as neuralgia, gout, agues, paralysis and various 
nervous affections (5:152). 

Extreme terror will, in certain instances, instead of 
depressing and paralyzing the nervous power, arouse it 
into new and astonishing action. "We read that it has 
even caused the dumb to speak, the paralytic to walk; 
and that the most painful and obstinate diseases have 
been known suddenly to yield under its potent influence 
(5:178). 

Fear will restore the maniac to reason; cure violent 
seasickness, or prevent it; excite the secretion of urine 
after it has been long suppressed; cure paralysis in an 
infant, and arrest the most frightful imitative convul- 
sions. Ague is well known by the sufferer to be a real 
disease, yet very often has ague been cured by fear, or 
disgust, or hope (19:183). 

But the same Emotion does not always act in the same 
mode; thus, the fear of danger may nerve one man to 
the most daring and vigorous efforts to avert it, whilst 
another is rendered powerless and gives way to unavail- 
ing lamentations (30:328). 

John Hunter only stated the truth of the case par- 
tially when he said: "As the state of mind is capable 
of producing a disease another state of it may effect a 
cure," if by this he meant to imply that a different 
kind of emotion is required to remove a disease from 
that which caused it, whereas the character of the 
mental excitor may be, and often is, the same in both 
instances. Fear may heal as well as cause disease. It 



Principles of Mental Heattng 141 

would therefore be more correct to say that as in health 
certain mental states may induce dif in disease 

certain mental states may restore health (6:o79). 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dr. John Pennington, of Edinburgh, records the fol- 
lowing: "A sailor in an fell off the end of the 
yard into the sea; the weather being calm he was taken 
up unhurt, but to use the Bailor's words who told me 
the story he was frightened half to death, and as soon 
as he was taken out of the water he diach a gallon 
of urine or more." Dr. Pennington ol "The 
sedative operation of Fear was, no doubt, the cause of 
the cure" (6:409). 

Dr. Rush refers to the case of a young woman (nine- 
teen years of age) who had take usual remedies 
for ascites without t Dr. Hull was consulted 
and immediately proposed that the operation of tap- 
ping should be performed. "To this she objected, but 
so great was the fear of this operation which the pro- 
posal of it suddenly excited in her mind that it brought 
on a plentiful discharge of urine, which in a few days 
perfectly removed her disease" (6:409-10). 

In the following instance, related to me by Mr. Cocks 
... it becomes a question whether Fear . . . did not 
act simply in exciting the sudoriferous glands to excessive 
action. The man's fear was of an anxious, fidgety kind, 
which was more likely to arouse than to check the func- 
tion of the glands. Such a case is full of interest and 
instruction. 

John Ford, an officer in the Royal Navy in George 
III.'s time, was invalided home from the West Indies 
for dropsy. Twelve months afterwards he was dis- 
charged from the Naval Hospital as incurable, from 
which date to the time when first seen by my friend 
he was under the paternal medical care of a host of 



142 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

ichneumons, who fed on the exchequer of his profits 
secundum artem. As to the disease, it was a matter of 
no moment — the longer he lived to swallow their trash 
the better for them. "They looked on and grinned, 
grinned and looked on again.' ' Mr. Cocks says he found 
him propped up in bed, at an angle of sixty degrees, 
with an anxious and cadaverous countenance. The room 
was neatly and profusely embellished, not with pictures, 
but with empty physic phials, pill boxes and gallipots. 
He had been well drugged; his system was saturated 
with nearly nine-tenths of the articles mentioned in the 
Materia Medica. My friend advised him to throw physic 
to the dogs for the present, and to submit to the only 
remedy (in his case) to save life, a surgical operation, 
and that as speedily as possible. This roused him from 
his lethargy; it was like a powerful electric shock. 
Alarmed he shook like a poor wretch under the influence 
of the cold stage of ague. In a subdued voice he said 
(as his excitement partially subsided) : "I never can 
submit to an operation ; I would rather die ! ' ' "If that 
be your determination, ' ' it was replied, "your case may 
be considered hopeless; all the drugs in the world will 
not save you. At all events, I will visit you to-morrow 
morning to know your decision.' ' Accordingly Mr. C. 
called on him, but the scene was changed. Soon after 
his departure he appeared to be greatly distressed both 
in mind and body; groaned aloud, wept much, and was 
very restless. The word "operation" had worked won- 
ders — in fact, a miracle. A copious perspiration was 
produced, and the steam like that from boiling water 
issued from every pore in the skin. The nurse said that 
more than two gallons of fluid had passed from him dur- 
ing the night. The bedding, consisting of feather bed, 
mattress, blankets and sacking, was saturated through 
and through with serum, and the floor was flooded with 
it. The patient recovered and was appointed to a ship 
in commission going to Jamaica (6:322-3). 



Principles of Mental I 143 

In November. 1869, I met with the tag in a 

newspaper under the heading of "Curative Effects of a 
Railway Collision"; 

11 Allow me to confirm all that your two correspondents 
have related with reepect to the alarming collision on 
the 17th instant on the Midland li 

"Nothing needs to be added either to t -rip- 

tions of the circum onatkra 

of the reel which brought r to 

death; but the shock produced bo * on 

myself — an effect, perhaps, unparalleled in the history 
of railway accidents — thai you will, perhaps, excuse 
my troubling you, with the details. 

"A1 my hotel in Manchester on Tuesday night I 
was seized with all the symptoms of s violent attack of 
rheumatic fever; in fact, my condition so alarmed me, 
and my dread of a sojourn in s ICancb itel bed 

for two or three months n . thai I d to 

make a bold a tart for 

London by the in from the 

London Koad terminus. From the time ing that 

station to the time of the collision my heart was going 
at express speed; my weak body was in a profuse per- 
spiration; flashes of pain announced that the muscular 
fibres were under the tyrannical control of rheumatism, 
and I was almost beside myself with toothache. Crash! 
smash! bump! and banc:! and from side to side of the 
carriage I went like a billiard ball under a hard cushion 
hit. The compartment was soon seen to be sprinkled 
with the blood of a hapless victim whose face had come 
into crushing contact with it." 

The rest of this part of the paper was unfortunately 
wanting, but I learned from other sources that, as the 
heading intimated, the patient was cured of his rheuma- 
tism (6:9 Preface). 

Sir Benjamin Brodie records the case of a young lady 
who had long labored under hysterical neuralgia of the 



144 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

hip and thigh, but who immediately lost all her symp- 
toms on being thrown from a donkey which she was 
riding (6:385). 

"A captain of a British ship of war," says Dr. Rush, 
"who had been confined for several weeks to his cabin 
by a severe fit of the gout in his feet, was suddenly 
cured by hearing the cry of 'Fire' on board his ship. 
This fact was communicated to me by a gentleman who 
was a witness of it. Many similar cases are upon record 
in books of medicine. I shall in another place insert an 
account of one in which the cure effected by a fright 
eradicated the disease from the system so completely as 
ever afterwards to prevent its return. 97 Here is the 
case, communicated by Judge Rush, the doctor's brother: 

"Peter Fether, the person cured, is now alive, a 
householder in Reading, seventy-three years of age, a 
native of Germany, and a very hearty man. The first 
fit of the gout he ever had was about the year 1773, and 
from that time till 1785 he had a regular attack in the 
spring of every year. His feet, hands and elbows were 
much swollen and inflamed ; the fits lasted long and were 
excruciating. In particular the last fit in 1785 was so 
severe as to induce an apprehension that it would in- 
evitably carry him off, when he was suddenly relieved 
by the following accident: As he lay in a small back 
room adjoining the yard it happened that one of his 
sons, in turning a wagon and horses, drove the tongue 
of the wagon with such force against the window, near 
which the old man lay stretched on a bed, as to beat in 
the sash of the window and to scatter the pieces of 
broken glass all about him. To such a degree was he 
alarmed by the noise and violence that he instantly 
leaped out of bed, forgot that he had ever used crutches, 
and eagerly inquired what was the matter. His wife, 
hearing the uproar, ran into the room, where, to her 
astonishment, she found her husband on his feet, bawl- 



145 

ing agaimri the author of I -hief with the most pas- 

sionate vein 

•• Prom thai momenl he baa been < 
ttu gout, I ■ r had the k-Ii of it, and 

now enjoys pert d health, lias a gooi! 

rtier in liis li; m, who 

have been long ac plore di 

the task of develo] principlea on which this mya- 

terk iteration from the lowest decrepitude and 

bodily wretchedness to health lias been 

accomplished 1 well know that toothac] 

hicc B ten inl- 

and that tl irn again. But to 

see a debilitated, gouty I to 

he who! i in a moment, as il w< 

undergo a peri . and t! 

vet id incurable i 1 is 

ely a di be aekn< d a 

very singular and marreloua evei 

An officer in the Indian army was confined to liis bed 
by asthma, and could only breathe in an erect posture; 
but a party of Mahrattas brok 

ing certain death he sprung out with amazing activity, 
mounted his horse and used bis sword with l: 
tion, although the day iic could not draw it from 

its scabbard (34:22 

Terror has appeared to benefit even patients in eon- 
sumption. According to Dr. Blane, a frightful hurri- 
cane in Barbadoes in 1880, bad one salutary effect — 
that of benefiting some and curing others who labored 
under tubercular disease of the lungs. . . . Dr. Rush 
refers to the cases related by Van Swieten and Smollett 
of consumptive patients recovering their health from 
falling into cold water, and inclines to think that in 
both instances fright and consequent exertion produced 
a beneficial result (6:408). 



146 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Intermittent fevers or agues have likewise disap- 
peared from the strong impulse of this same passion 
(fright). Dr. Fordyce tells of a man afflicted with a 
fever of this description, that his brother having led 
him to walk by the edge of a mill-dam pushed him sud- 
denly into the water, and which, as he was unable to 
swim, naturally put him into a very great fright. He 
was speedily, however, taken out, and from that time 
forth had no further paroxysm of his disease (5 : 179-80). 

It is related in Herodotus that during the storm of 
Sardis, "a Persian meeting Croesus was, through ignor- 
ance of his person, about to kill him. The king, over- 
whelmed by his calamity, took no care to avoid the blow 
or escape death; but his dumb son, when he saw the 
violent designs of the Persian, overcome with astonish- 
ment and terror, exclaimed aloud, * Oh, man, do not kill 
Croesus ! ' This was the first time he had ever articu- 
lated, but he retained the faculty of speech from this 
event as long as he lived" (5:178). 

Epileptic fits — the frequent result of a false or morbid 
religious excitement or enthusiasm, aided by the prin- 
ciple of sympathy in the feeble-minded and ignorant — 
may often be counteracted through the passion of fear. 
. . . The cure of these convulsions in the parish of 
Northmaven, in which they were once very frequent, is 
said to have been effected by a rough fellow of a kirk 
officer tossing a woman affected with them, and with 
whom he had been often troubled, into a ditch of water. 
She was never known to be thus affected afterwards, 
and the disease was kept off in others by a dread of the 
like treatment. 

Boerhaave appears to have operated successfully with 
the passion of fear in the house of the poor at Haerlem 
in the cure of convulsions, which, through the force of 
imitation — a propensity so strong in our nature — had 
spread to almost all the boys and girls who were its in- 
mates. All medical treatment having proved unsuccess- 



Principles of Mental Healing 147 

ful in the hands of the physicians n\' the place applica- 
tion was made to Boerhaave, v ing the manner 
in which the fits spread, determined to try the effects of 
a remedy which would act strongly upon the imagina- 
tion. He accordingly had I portable furnaces, on 
which were placed burning coals and iron hooks of a 
figure suited for his purpose, and then gave direetionfl 
that as all medicines had (ailed, and he knew of no other 
remedy, the next one seized with a paroxysm, whether 
boy or girl, should be burnt on the naked arm with the 
heated iron, even to the bona All 
terrified at the thought of this erne! remedy thai they 
struggled with all their might to keep off the fits, and 
were completely successful (5: 182 

The old story of Boerhai - any 

other, who is said to have immediately cured several 
girls at school of chorea by threatening that the next 
who was attacked should have the actual cautery applied 
(3:16). 

4. A Strong I 

STATEMENTS 

I may here icier to th< I during what is 

popularly termed "the nightmare." ... In this case 
sleep is imperfect. We are to a certain extent aware of 

our situation. We know where feel as 

if some power oppressed us ami prevented our moving 
our limbs. The fact is, not that the muscles will not 
obey the will, but that the will itself is not exercised. 
The paralysis and catalepsy of hysterical patients is of 
the same kind, and both the one and the other imme- 
diately vanish if a strong impression be made on the 
senses, or even on the imagination (28: vol. 1, 139). 

The nervous patient is on the path to recovery as soon 
as he has the conviction that he is going to be cured; 
he is cured on the day when he believes himself to be 
cured (31:210). 



148 Mind as a Cause anid Cure of Disease 

The old French Commission on Magnetism found . . . 
that they could produce convulsions by acting upon the 
Imagination. But more than this, they found they 
could by the same talisman terminate them. "To prove 
incoiitestably, and to complete the picture of the effects 
of the Imagination, powerful alike to agitate and to 
calm, we have," say they, "put an end to a convulsion 
by the same charm which produced it, the power of the 
Imagination' ' (6:387). 

The various ways in which vomiting may be excited 
will serve to illustrate the influence of ideas presented 
in different forms. See how the causes differ. First, a 
> man may vomit from taking an emetic, from a bad 
smell, or from visceral disease. With this class of cases 
we have nothing to do ; the mind has not influenced the 
body. Secondly, he may vomit from receiving unpleas- 
ant intelligence. Thirdly, by seeing or hearing another 
person retch; from Sympathy as we say. Lastly, this 
effect may be induced by the belief that an emetic has 
been taken; from Imagination, in the ordinary sense of 
the term current among men (6:50). 

When we imagine that we have swallowed an emetic, 
and the imagination excites retching and vomiting, as 
if an emetic had been really taken, the conclusion is 
obvious, that the felt external impression on the stomach 
of such an emetic, or its felt nerve actions, must have 
produced the same movement, namely, vomiting, as a 
sentient action of the external sensation at the irritated 
point, which the same external impression had excited 
there at the same time, as a direct nerve-action. This 
occurs also when purgation takes place, simply from 
dreaming that a purgative has been taken; when we 
shiver from the imagination of intense cold; when suffu- 
sion and blue marks take place at the spot where we 
dream that we have received a blow, pinch, etc. 
(18:302). . . . 



of Mental Healing 149 

Thus an ini >r one that dreams, or any- 

individual with vivid imagination, imagines he has swal- 
lowed an active pm and is purged in consequence; 
or vomits from dreaming of taking nauseous food, etc. 
(18:118). . . . 

It is not unusual for some persons to vomit, or be 
purged by only seeing a medicine (18:409). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

The confident assertion that KM) subject to 

epileptic fits will have an atfc quently proved 

sufficient to prodm Madame onr at- 

tain i\ repntatioi] in Pi ithin the last half 

century for the p< -rvous dis- 

eases. It is related that on on** young 

woman was brought to her, when she d d — 

"What is your complaint ?" "Epil replied the 

girl. ''Then, in the name of the Lord, have a fit nov 
exclaimed Madame de St. Amour. The effect was in- 
stantaneous. The patient fell backwards and had a 
violent attack of epileptic convulsions. . . . 

In like manner, in th< :' the poor I -epilep- 

tic girl treated by .Madame de St. Amonr, "X \$ 9 " 

said the latter, "vous 6te& gu&rie," and the fit subsided 
(6:100-1, 388). 

Every practitioner is familiar with hysterical con- 
traction of the fingers. A young woman's fingers are 
firmly flexed upon the palm, and obstinately resist any 
attempt to extend them. All the orthodox pharmaceu- 
tical means may be employed and fail, even if, its true 
nature being recognized, it is not confounded with the 
effects of inflammation of the tendons or their thecae, or 
of organic cerebral disease ; and yet a cure may be per- 
formed in a few minutes by what is ordinarily under- 
stood by the Imagination, by a sudden thrill of Hope or 



150 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Faith which masters the tonic spasm and sets the fingers 
free. Dr. Bertrand knew a woman whose hand for 
thirty-eight years had been closed as firmly as the fist 
of a boxer and could only be opened by very consider- 
able force; yet her hand, to his knowledge, opened in 
response to the appeal of Madame de St. Amour. 
Whether it relapsed eventually into its former condition 
is not stated, but for three days at least it remained 
relaxed and as serviceable as the other. It is in regard 
to such cases (whether hysterical or the remains of old 
disease) that Burton's pithy observation is but too true: 
"An empirick oftentimes, or a silly chirurgeon, doth 
more strange cures than a rational physician. Nyman- 
nus gives a reason — because the patient puts his confi- 
dence in him, which Avicenna prefers before art, pre- 
cepts and all remedies whatsoever. i ,r Tis opinion alone 
(saith Cardan) that makes or mars physicians; and he 
doth the best cures, according to Hippocrates, in whom 
most trust' " (6:388-9). 

A young girl came into my service, having suffered 
from complete nervous aphonia for nearly four weeks. 
After making sure of the diagnosis I told my students 
that nervous aphonia sometimes yielded instantly to 
electricity, which might act simply by its suggestive in- 
fluence. I sent for the induction apparatus. Before 
using it I wanted to try simple suggestion by affirma- 
tion. I applied my hand over the larynx and moved it 
a little and said, "Now you can speak aloud." In an 
instant I made her say "a," then "b," then "Maria." 
She continued to speak distinctly ; the aphonia had dis- 
appeared (17:198). 

Dr. Bouchut states that in 1849 a little girl, Louise 
Parguin, whom excessive Fear had rendered dumb and 
paralytic in all her limbs, was brought to him. "For 
two months everything had been done by the physi- 
cians, but to no purpose. In despair her father came 



Principles of Mental Ihaling 151 

with his child to Paris. The girl, who had heard of the 
great city, its great physicians and the Hotel Dieu, 
spoken of only in the most extravagant way, arrived full 
of faith to be cured. In the evening I saw her dumb 
and paralytic; and, displeased at finding such a patient 
in the hospital, made no prescription. B - in the 

same state the next morning; I put off all treatment dur- 
ing the day. During the day she began to speak, the 
day after to move her limbs and on the third day she 
walked about the wards completely cored. Her faith 
had saved her" (6:390). 

For the last four or fiv resided in 

my neighborhood a lady of 45. bedriddi parently 

unable to stand up, or to get off her bed without brine: 
lifted to a chair and back to the bed. The cause assigned 
was a post-partum hemorrhage, which nearly proved 
fatal, and from which she very slowly recovered, regain- 
ing her health and usual appearance only at the end of 
over a year. 

About eighteen months ago, while attending her 
mother in a case of bilious remitfa ir, her husband 

asked me to have a talk with her. She consented for 
me to examine her. which 1 carefully did, and I ex- 
pressed the opinion that there was no apparent reason 
why she should not be able to stand alone and walk, 
although the bottoms of her feet were as delicate as 
those of an infant. 

She had lain so long on her back that her head had 
the appearance of being artificially flattened. In fact, 
she had made no effort to move herself or to stand, even 
supported, on her feet for over four years. To all 
appearance she was as fat and healthy as any woman 
of her age, well developed, and the body and limbs 
finely proportioned, with no atrophy perceptible. 

Well, on the 24th of December, 1896, she remarked to 
her husband when she woke up in the morning: "I 



152 Mind as a Cause and Care of Disease 

have dreamed that I can walk, and I'm going to try." 
Suiting the action to the words she rolled out, put her 
feet on the floor and with very little help walked to the 
fireplace and sat down on a chair. 

Except for the very tender condition of the soles of 
her feet she could now walk as well and as long as she 
ever could, and has not laid down during the day since 
she got up that morning. She sits in a chair, resting 
her feet on another, when not walking about. 

The case has excited considerable comment, and had 
there been any "faith doctors'' in the neighborhood it 
would have been one of their miracles. As it is it is a 
curious case (to my mind) of hysteria, similar to some 
noted in Charcott's work on nervous diseases. These 
are the facts in the case, whatever may be the cause or 
theory relative thereto (44:22-3). 

Mme. W , after an altercation with her cook, was 

seized with paraplegia. I found the patient in bed, very 
much disturbed by what had happened. Her legs were 
in tetany when stretched out, and the patient was in- 
capable of making the slightest movement. Sensibility 
to a prick ceased over the whole cutaneous surface of 
the lower extremities, and the anesthesia ceased sud- 
denly at the fold of the groin. 

While I made the examination the patient asked me: 
"Is it serious? Shall I have to stay a long time in 
bed?" 

1 ' Serious ! Not in the least ; it is only a nervous weak- 
ness brought on by emotion. In three days you will be 
on your feet!" 

Then, taking her relatives to one side, I took care to 
say to them: "You have heard that I have said she 
will be cured in three days; I could have said three 
weeks, three months, or more, for I have seen these 
paraplegias last for years. It all depends upon the idea 
that the patient gets into her head. Take care, then, 
to take it for granted that the patient will be cured 



Pi 199 )iple$ of Mental J. 

within the fixed time. Do not make beli lieve it; 

that will not do; believe it — all of you believe it!" 

Without any other treatment the patient was cured 
and walked on the third day (31 \ 

The rejection of th of the stomach from a 

purely mental state is well exemplified in an experiment 
made upon one hundred pai in a hospital, and 

reported by Dr. Durand (de Gros) in his able work 
■ n's <]( Physi I'hilosophiquc. The house surgeon 

administered to them Bach inert draughts as b 
water; then, full of alarm, he pi I to have made 

a mistake in inadvertently giving them an emetic, in- 
stead of syrup of gum. The resull rici- 
pated by those who can estimate the influence of Imag- 
ination. No fewer W hty — four-fifths — were un- 
mistakably sick. Ho w many of the rest suffered from 
nausea is not stated (6 : 126). 

Van Swieten bi d a man who had 

taken a sufficiently nauseating draught, not only shud- 
der and be nauseated, but also be frequently purged, 
when he merely s;iw the cup in which he had taken the 
medicine' ' (6:127). 

In the BibUothiQ ... is a good 

example of the effect produced by the Imagination, dur- 
ing sleep, upon the action of the intestines. The daugh- 
ter of the Hanoverian Consul, aged eighteen, having to 
take a rhubarb purge on the following day, which she 
especially disliked, dreamed that she had taken the 
hated dose. Griped by her imaginary rhubarb she awoke, 
and the bowels acted freely five or six times. Precisely 
similar is a case which I give on the same authority 
(Demangeon) ; that of a monk for whom some purgative 
had been prepared, to be taken on the following day. 
He dreamed that he swallowed the medicine, the conse- 
quence of which was that he was aroused by the neces- 
sity of attending to the calls of nature, and was copiously 
purged eight times (6:402-3). 



154 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 
5. Courage or Fearlessness 

STATEMENTS 

True courage is a most desirable quality of mind; it 
is promotive of health and happiness and essential to, 
and by the Greeks and Romans was used synonymously 
with virtue (5:170). 

A bold, intrepid spirit may justly be ranked among 
the conditions which secure to the constitution its full 
measure of physical power (5:218). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

The depressing agency of fear is well known to aug- 
ment the susceptibility of the constitution to disease; 
and especially to the action of contagion and epidemic 
influences. It was observed by an old and distinguished 
medical writer (Willis) that they who have the greatest 
fear of small-pox are generally the first to be attacked 
by it. Hecker, in his history of the Black Death, a 
malignant and widespreading epidemic of the fourteenth 
century, says that many fell victims to fear on the first 
appearance of the distemper. . . . The cholera is well 
known during its epidemic prevalence to have been 
often induced in timid people through their strong ap- 
prehension of it (5:218-9). 

A good example of spasm of the eyelids of mental 
origin is recorded by Dr. Weir Mitchell. It occurred 
in a lady, shy from childhood, blushing easily, and ex- 
cessively embarrassed by the presence of strangers. 
"The trouble of her eyes came on for the first time at a 
watering-place. When going to dinner and sitting down 
she observed that a great number of persons were look- 
ing at her as a last arrival. She mentioned the fact to 
her husband and was almost immediately attacked by a 
violent closure of the eyes, and was obliged to be led in 
this condition from the table. When this had happened 



Principles of Mental Healing 155 

Dnce you may well imagine that every repetition of the 
original cause brought back 8 return of the disorder, 
until at last it was quite impossible Cor her to go to table 
in the room with other people. You will see that in 
this case Emotion and, after the establishment of the 
symptoms, the despoti I of an unpleasant memory 

were competent to ad then to continue rave 

inconvenience. J in inducing her, I 

to make an effort to go to dinner without regard to what 
had happened, and to face the slight unpleasantness and 
the talk which her appearance might create. Eer cour- 
age was finally rewarded by a cure w] 
so t . by a long id constant 

exposure to the ve hich had given rise to 

her first air 'I . 

6. Mi ntal / 

STATEMENTS 

Distinctness of ol I purp06( ntial to health 

of mind, and lor the preservation of that orderly action 
of the nervous system without which we are diseased in 
body also. Every faculty and function, therefore, re- 
quires its appropriate exei r inaction is scarcely 
more liable to be followed by a morbid train of misery 
than is disappointed or distracted activity (3-4:205). 

The triumph of man over pain and difficulty is always 
achieved by fixing his desire upon the attainment of 
some prize (34:263). 

Those who are depressed by any cause are most likely 
to take contagious diseases (34:238). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Captain Ross, in the narrative of his Arctic voyage, 
particularly alludes to the circumstance of mental de- 
pression increasing susceptibility to cold. The disas- 



156 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

trous retreat from Moscow also affords a striking and 
extensive instance (34:238). 

Stirring political events, demanding individual action, 
have a wonderful influence over nervous affections. This 
fact was exhibited in the first American war. Dr. Hush, 
after stating that many whose habits were infirm and 
delicate, were restored to perfect health by the change 
of place or occupation to which the war exposed them, 
adds: "This was the case in a more especial manner 
with hysterical women, who were much interested in the 
successful issue of the contest. The same effects of a 
civil war upon the hysteria were observed by Dr. Cullen 
in Scotland in 1745-6. It may, perhaps, help to extend 
our ideas of the influence of the passions upon diseases 
to add that when either love, jealousy, grief, or even 
devotion, wholly engrosses the female mind, it seldom 
fails, in like manner, to cure or to suspend hysterical 
complaints" (6:386). 

Many interesting observations were made by Dr. 
Rush on the "Bilious Yellow Fever' ' which raged in 
Philadelphia in 1783. . . . Attendants upon the sick in 
this fever were observed to be themselves materially 
influenced by the prospect of the patient's recovery. 
So long as there was hope they often escaped. But when 
hope was extinguished they were frequently attacked by 
the disease — most of the near relations of the deceased 
falling victims to it. On the other hand, an opposite 
state of mind to that of Grief also produced the disease, 
or rather rendered persons more liable to it. For after 
nursing a relative who recovered many became affected 
in a few days, notwithstanding their joy, in conse- 
quence, no doubt, of mental collapse. Their hopes were 
fulfilled, attention upon an object external to themselves 
was no longer required, and a general relaxation of the 
energies followed, only too favorable to the invasion of 
fever. Dr. Jackson, in his Treatise on the Fevers of 
Jamaica, states that the garrisons of Savannah and 



Principles of Mental Healing 157 

Yorktown remained healthy so long as those towi 
besieged, while Savannah became affected when th^ 
French and American armi« ated from it, and 

Yorktown when it capitulated. In both instances the 
mental tone of the inhabitants ceased to be wholesomely 
maintained ; Joy in the former did not prevent the 
deleterious influence of the reaction, and Grief or Dis- 
appointment in the latter produced their natural fruits. 
So complex are psychical causes that opposite events 
will occasion the same results, but when analyzed there 
is no real inconsistency in their operation, and they fall 
under well-understood psychological laws (6:337-8). 

7. Determination h of WQl 

\ti:mi:n 

We have already observed the power of the will in 
directing and enforcing the motions of the muscles, but 
if we further reflect on the various ways in which will 
operates we shall not fail to be struck with the vast 
extent of its influence, not only over the muscles, but 
also over the source of bodily life itself, for its exercise 
modifies the action both of the brain and the heart — tak- 
ing possession, so to speak, of the fountains of energy, 
and regulating in some measure the supply of blood and 
life to different parts of the body (34: 166). 

It has been said, and truly said, that a soul which 
maintains a certain empire over the body it animates 
may also be of infinite use in preserving life and health. 
It is self-reliance now, united with a strong will, that 
gives this dominion to the soul, and thereby contributes 
a wholesome influence to all the functions of our being. 
Were it required of me to determine the mental qualities 
which should be particularly fostered and strengthened, 
in reference to health, happiness and the force and per- 
fection of human character, I should name self-reliance 
and volition; for if these are feeble, weakness and 



158 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

effeminacy, moral and physical, are the almost unavoid- 
able consequences (5 : 386) . 

Sometimes the patient will be cured, and sometimes 
she will not. Most frequently this will is induced by 
some extraordinary moral influence; such was the case 
in the well-known instance of Miss Fancourt. Such 
have been the results under the influence of Mesmerism, 
Perkinism, Homeopathy. Such has been the event when 
the patient has been roused from a state of moral inert- 
ness to ardent activity by some stirring circumstance in 
her family or condition (22: vol. 1, 95). 

The power of the Will in resisting disease apart from 
the influence of the Imagination or the concentration of 
the Attention is unquestionable. "Oh, if I could once 
make a resolution and determine to be well ! ' ' exclaimed 
the German physician Walderstein (6:422). 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

A young person of hysterical disposition was bled, 
and soon afterwards became afflicted with contraction of 
the fingers into the palm of the hand. Under the idea 
that the nerve had been wounded, the cicatrix left by 
the venisection was removed; the spasmodic action of 
the fingers immediately became relaxed and their use 
was restored. By degrees the spasm returned, and the 
operation was repeated with the same good effect, less 
prompt but not less perfect than before. The spasm 
returned a third time. 

I now began to suspect that even this strange degree 
of spasm, during which the nails actually grew into the 
palm of the hand, was not altogether real. I suggested 
that the patient should be blindfolded, and that a mock 
operation should be performed. It was performed ; super- 
ficial but painful lacerations were made in the integu- 
ments ; it was pretended that a nerve was laid bare, was 
divided; and it was loudly said, "Now the spasm will 



Principles of Mental Healing 159 

cease and she will open her hand ;" and she did open her 
hand! Wa1 - colored with the tinetura lavandulae 

composita for the want of blood! Again, after a time, 
the spasm seemed to be returning; but now the whole 
truth was told, and the p for fear of exposure, 

took care to remain well (22: vol. 1, 93-4). 

Mr. Crosse was severely bitten by a eat, which died 
the same day hydrophobic. He ap ihought 

little of the circuit: tainly not nervous 

or imaginative in regard to it. Three months, however, 
after he bad received the wound, he felt one morning 
great pain in bis arm, accompanied by extreme thirst. 
He called for a glass of v.. ml will be best 

told in his own words: "At the instant that I I 
about to raise the tumbler to my lips a strong spasm 
shot across my throat; im ly the terrible convic- 

tion came to my mind that I rat to fall a victim 

to hydrophobia, tl • [uence of the bite that I had 

received from the cat. The agony of mind I endured 
for one hour is indescribable; the plation of such 

a horrible death — death from hydrophobia — was ah 
insupportable; the tormenta of hell itself could not have 
surpassed what I suffered. The pain, which had first 
commenced in my hand, passed up to the elbow, and 
from thence to the shoulder, threatened to extend. I 
felt all human aid was useless, and I believed that I 
must die. At length I began to reflect upon my con- 
dition. I said to myself, either I shall die or I shall not; 
if I do, it will only be a similar fate which many have 
suffered, and many more must suffer, and I must bear 
it like a man ; if, on the other hand, there is any hope 
of my life, my only chance is in summoning my utmost 
resolution, defying the attack and exerting every effort 
of my mind. Accordingly, feeling that physical as well 
as mental exertion was necessary, I took my gun, shoul- 
dered it, and went out for the purpose of shooting, my 
arm aching the while intolerably. I met with no sport, 



itiO Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

but / walked the ivlwle afternoon, exerting, at every 
step I went, a strong mental effort against the disease. 
When I returned to the house I was decidedly better; 
I was able to eat some dinner and drank water as usual. 
The next morning the aching pain had gone down to my 
elbow, the following it went down to the wrist, and the 
third day left me altogether. I mentioned the circum- 
stance to Dr. Kinglake, and he said he certainly con- 
sidered that I had had an attack of hydrophobia, which 
would possibly have proved fatal had I not struggled 
against it by a strong effort of mind" (6 : 423-4). 

The influence of the Will in controlling disease has 
already been incidentally referred to in the case of 
Irving. His own account of an attack of cholera may 
be made use of advantageously here.* During the in- 
vasion of the cholera in 1832 he was "seized with what 
was in all appearance, and to the conviction of medical 
men when described to them, that disease which has 
proved so fatal to so many of our fellow creatures.' ' 
He had risen in perfect health at his usual early hour. 
By breakfast time he had become very cold and was 
laboring under severe pain. His appearance shocked 
his friends. Vomiting succeeded, and wringing or gnaw- 
ing pains, and being so weak that he could not sit up, he 
lay on the bed wrapped in blankets till he had to set 
out to preach at half past eleven. It appears that he 
had a little brandy and arrowroot, but felt no better. 
With sunken eyes, pallid cheeks and an altogether 
ghastly appearance, he tottered to the church, a quarter 
of a mile distant, and found another minister officiating 
for him. He was tempted to shrink back, but summoned 
resolution to tell his beadle to go into the pulpit and 
inform him that he would shortly take his place. In the 
meantime he stretched himself on three chairs in the 
vestry before the fire. "Even as I shifted my position 

* It should be observed that he held and preached that disease 
is sin, and that no one with faith need or ought to yield to it. 



</ ; // 'ding 161 

I endured much suffering, and was almost involuntarily 
impelled to draw up my limbs in order to keep the pain 
under. Nevertheless, when I stood up to attire myself 
for the pulpit and went forward to ascend the pulpit 
stairs the pain seemed to leave me." His sight was 
dim, his head swam, he breathed with difficulty, he laid 
hold of the pulpit sides and looked wistfully about, 
wondering what would befall him. The crisis came. 
"That instant a cold s hill as the hand of death, 

broke out all over my body and stood in large drops 
upon my forehead and hands. From that moment I 
seemed to be strengthened.' ' He preached upwards of 
an hour with more unction than he had ever done before. 
After the service be walked home, eating little or noth- 
ing. Yet he preached in the evening in a crowded school- 
room, and next morning rose before the sun to pursue, 
"with renewed strength/ ' what he regarded as his 
course of duty (6:425-6). 

III. Healing as Related to Faith and Expectation 

Under this heading we shall present various diseases 
which, in being cured, exemplify a few of the very great 
variety of media through which Faith heals, giving, as 
in the preceding section, first a list of statements to be 
followed by appropriate illustrations, both of which are 
composed entirely of extracts or quotations. 

statemen 

The influence of ideas upon the body gives rise to a 
very great variety of phenomena, which border on the 
marvelous. It may be stated as a general fact that any 
state of the body which is conceived to be approaching, 
and which is expected with perfect confidence and cer- / 
tainty of its occurrence, will be very prone to ensue as 
the mere result of that idea, if it do not lie without the 
bounds of possibility (2: vol. II, 1392). 



162 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

The old French Commission on Animal Magnetism, 
for example, observed: "As to the Imagination, we 
know the derangement which a vivid and sudden impres- 
sion has often occasioned in the human machinery. The 
Imagination renews or suspends the animal functions; 
it animates by Hope or freezes by Fear ; in a single night 
it turns the hair white; in a moment it restores the use 
of the limbs or the speech; it destroys or develops the 
germ of diseases; it even causes death " (6:52). 

Expectation of the action of a remedy often causes us 
to experience its operation beforehand (18:122). 

When a person, on swallowing a bread-pill, in the 
belief that it possesses aperient properties, is purged, it 
is said to be through his Imagination, the mental con- 
dition present yielding, on analysis, a definite direction 
of thought to the intestinal canal, such leading idea 
exciting the same peristaltic action as would have been 
induced by castor oil. The force of this current of 
thought is augmented by Expectation (6:47). 

As some are molested by fantasy, so some again by 
fancy alone and a good conceit are as easily recovered. 
We see commonly the toothache, gout, falling-sickness, 
biting of a mad dog, and many such maladies, cured by 
spells, words, characters and charms. . . . All the 
world knows there is no virtue in such charms or cures, 
but a strong conceit and opinion alone, as Pomponatius 
holds, "which forceth a motion of the humours, spirits 
and blood, which takes away the cause of the malady 
from the parts affected." The like we may say of our 
magical effects, superstitious cures, and such as are done 
by mountebanks and wizards. "As by wicked incred- 
ulity many men are hurt (so saith Wierus of charms, 
spells, etc.), we find in our experience by the same 
means many are relieved" (26:168). 

There is a very interesting passage in an old author 
recognizing in the clearest manner and far in advance 
of his age the role of the imagination in the cures at- 



Prii iMng 163 

tributed to the s<*< arm of relics. The writer is 

Pierre Pomponazzi. of Mb who flourished in the 

sixteenth century. After remarking "one can easily 
conceive the marvelous effects which confidence and the 
imagination can produce, especially when they exist 
both in the operator and the persons operated upon," 
he continues, "the cures attributed to certain relics are 
the result of this confident imagination. Imposters and 
philosophers alike know that if any other skeleton were 
substituted for the bones of a saint the patients would 
not the less lie restored to health, as they I 'hey 

approached the true relics. 91 Alas, for the slow advance 
of correct ideas on the subtle and marvelous power of 
the imagination since the days of Pomponazzi ! (6:402.) 

TI.U>TRATIONS 

Toothache. — We all know how one common but pain- 
ful affection — toothache — is removed temporarily or per- 
manently by Fear or by the Imagination. Familiar with 
instances of this kind, we can readily believe the state- 
ment made by Dr. Ranieri Qerbi, Professor of Mathe- 
matics in Pisa . . . — the insect here referred to being 
called by him curculio anti-odontalgicus. Its virtues 
were wonderful, for if squeezed between the fingers they 
had only to be applied to the tooth to relieve its aching. 
Dr. Gerbi states that by this process, which clearly owed 
its efficacy to the Imagination of the sufferers, he cured 
four hundred and one cases out of six hundred and 
twenty-nine. ... It is unnecessary to multiply exam- 
ples for as notorious a fact as the magical power of the 
influence in question ; an influence not only well known 
to the dentist, but to every one on his way to that 
dreaded personage, who, wishing to believe that the 
operation is not requisite, begins by doubting whether 
the pain is after all so very bad, and by the time he sets 
his foot on the step of the dentist's door convinces him- 



164 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

self that he is entirely free from it. And so he is; at 
any rate, for a time (6 : 384). 

Sciatica. — A singular instance of the influence of the 
Imagination upon sciatica may be found in a practice 
said to have been once common in Devonshire, related 
in The Anatomic of the Elder of Dr. Martin Blockwick, 
and cited in Brand's Popular Antiquities: "The Bones- 
have, a word perhaps nowhere used or understood in 
Devonshire but in the neighborhood of Exmoor, means 
the sciatica; and the Exmorians, when affected there- 
with, use the following charm to be freed from it. The 
patient must lie upon his back on the bank of the river 
or brook, with a straight staff by his side, between him 
and the water, and must have the following words re- 
peated over him, viz. : 

Boneshave right, 

Boneshave straight, 

As the water runs by the stave, 

Good for the Boneshave. 

They are not to be persuaded but that this ridiculous 
form of words seldom fails to give them a perfect cure" 
(6:384-5). 

Sick Headache. — In the Life and Letters of an excel- 
lent man, the late Rev. Frederick "Wilfred Faber, we 
read the following, which could easily be paralleled by 
similar cases of relief from sick headache by very mun- 
dane causes: 

"I hardly know where to begin. Some time ago a 
lady at prayer in our church thought it was revealed to 
her that St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi wished to confer 
some grazia on me in connection with my headache. 
Her director gave her permission to act upon this, where- 
upon she wrote to me begging me, when my headache 
came on, to apply a relic of the Saint to my forehead. 
Some days elapsed. I asked Father Francis, my 
director, for his leave to do this ; as it was a merely tern- 



Principles of Mental Healing 165 

poral thing he took some time to consider. I became ill 
and had a night of great pain. I thought he had forgot- 
ten all about it and that it would be a blameworthy- 
imperfection in me to remind him of it. The morning 
after he came to confession and found me ill in bed; he 
was going away but I knew he was going to say mass, 
and so I made him kneel down by my bedside, while I 
put on my stole and with CO! ble pain heard his 

confession; when he rose I gave him the Btole and asked 
him to hear my co :i, which he did. Afterwards 

he said, 'Well, now, I think it would be well to try this 
relic.' I answered, 'Just ax you please. 9 I was in great 
suffering and very siek besides. He gave it to me and 
walked away to the door to say mass. I applied the 
relic, a piece of her linen, to my Forehead. A sort of 
fire went into my head, through every limb down to my 
feet, causing me to tremble; before Father I-Y. (raid 

even reach the door I sprang up, crying, 'I am cured, 
I am quite well!' He said I looked 'as white 
I was filled with a kind 1 fear, and an intense 

desire to consecraie myself atterly to God. I got up 
and dressed without any difficult v or pain or sickness' ' 
(6:396-7). 

Ague. — A chapter might be written simply on the 
charms supposed to be of efficacy in ague. One remedy 
w T as wearing round the neck the mysterious word 
11 Abracadabra,' ' written in a peculiar manner. Chips 
from the galkrws, placed in a bag and hung round the 
neck, or put on the skin, "will cure the ague or prevent 
it," says Grose. . . . 

It is stated that the ague was very successfully cured 
by Faith, on a large scale, by Ferrarius. In the course 
of a twelvemonth he cut the disease short in about fifty 
persons solely by slips of paper, on which he inscribed 
the word "febrifuge," and gave them to the patients 
with the instruction that they should cut off a letter 
every day. A Spanish lieutenant recovered by the time 



166 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

he arrived at the sixth letter. John Hunter says: 
" Agues have been cured by charms which have been 
used with a thorough conviction of their being a sover- 
eign remedy. I am apt to suppose that a spider's web, 
when taken for an ague, cures in the same way; at least 
in one case, for on giving it without the patient's knowl- 
edge it had not the slightest effect, but by persuading 
the patient that it was a spider the effect was produced ; 
at least the disease did not return" (6:410-11). 

Warts. — The influence of the Imagination upon warts, 
trivial as it seems, is really a curious page in the history 
of this power as a curative agent. ... A surgeon in- 
forms me that some years ago his daughter had about 
a dozen warts on her hands. They had been there about 
eighteen months, and her father had applied caustic 
and other remedies without success. One day a gentle- 
man called, and in shaking hands with Miss C re- 
marked upon her disfigured hand. He asked her how 
many she had ; she replied she did not know, but thought 
about a dozen. " Count them, will you?" said the 
caller, and taking out a piece of paper he solemnly took 
down her counting, remarking, "You will not be trou- 
bled with your warts after next Sunday." Now it is 
a fact that by the day named the warts had disappeared 
and did not return. 

Brand points out that warts were cured by magic in 
Lucian's time, and he refers to a time-honored cure for 
warts, that of stealing a piece of meat from a butcher's 
shop, rubbing your warts with it, then throwing it away 
or burying it. As the beef rots the warts decay. . . . 

As Dr. Carpenter says, therefore, "the charming away 
of warts by spells of the most vulgar kind" belong to 
those "cases which are real facts, however they may be 
explained" (6:403-4). 

Pleurodynia, etc. — Every one has heard the story of 
the doctor who left his prescription on the table for a 
lady who suffered from pleurodynia, saying, "Put this 



Principles of Mental Healing 167 

to your side," and how the patient literally did so, in- 
stead of obtaining the prescribed plaster, but, in spite 
of this mistake, derived great benefit from the applica- 
tion. 

A parallel case of colic is mentioned by Dr. John 
Brown, of Edinburgh. He ordered a laboring man some 
medicine, and giving him the prescription said: "Take 
that, and come back in a fortnight and you will be 
well." As he returned at that time hearty and well, 
free from the colic and sinking at the stomach, of which 
he had complained, and with a (Iran tongue and cool 
hand and a happy face Dr. B. was very proud of the 
wonders his prescription had effected and said: "Let 
me see what I gave you." ''Oh." said he, "I took it." 
"Yes," said the doctor, "but the prescription I" "I 
took it, as you bade me. I swallowed it"; that is, the 
paper itself! (6:386-7.) 

Rheumatism. — I have before me a large number of 
cases of the successful treatment of disease by tractors, 
both metallic and wooden, but shall only select a few 
in order to show their effect. . . . 

At the time when the metallic tractors of Perkins 
excited so much attention, and their efficacy was at- 
tributed to galvanism, Drs. Haygarth and Falconer, of 
Bath, selected certain patients in the General Hospital 
for their experiments, employing two wooden tractors 
of nearly the same shape as those used by Perkins, and 
painted so as to resemble them in color. 

The cases chosen were those of chronic rheumatism — 
in the ankle, knee, wrist and hip. One attributed his 
pain to gout. With the exception of the hip case the 
joints were swollen, and all had been ill for several 
months. 

"Of five patients, all except one assured us that their 
pains were relieved, and three of them that they were 
much benefited by the first application of the remedy. 
One felt his knees warmer and he could walk mud; bet* 



168 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

ter, as he showed us with great satisfaction. One was 
easier for nine hours, till he went to bed, when the 
pain returned. One had a tingling sensation for two 
hours. The wooden tractors were drawn over the skin 
so as to touch it in the slightest manner. Such is the 
wonderful force of the Imagination. [This requires 
some modification.] 

"Next day, January 8, the true metallic tractors of 
Mr. Perkins were employed exactly in like manner and 
with similar effects. All the patients were in some 
measure, but not more, relieved by the second applica- 
tion except one, who received no benefit from the 
former operation, and was not a proper subject for the 
experiment, having no existing pain, but only stiffness 
of her ankle. They felt (as they fancied) warmth, but 
in no degree greater than on the former day" 
(6:432-3). . . . 

Mr. Richard Smith, of the Bristol Infirmary, pursued 
the experiments commenced by Dr. Haygarth, and with 
the following results: 

"Robert Thomas, aet. 43. He had for some time been 
under the care of Dr. Savill, in the Bristol Infirmary, 
with a rheumatic affection of the shoulder, which ren- 
dered his arm perfectly useless. 

"April 19. — Having everything in readiness, I passed 
through the ward, and (in a way that he might suspect 
nothing) questioned him respecting his complaint. I 
then told him that I had an instrument in my pocket 
which had been very serviceable to many in his state, and 
when I explained how simple it was he consented to 
undergo the operation. In six minutes no other effect 
was produced than a warmth upon the skin, and I feared 
this coup d'essai had failed. The next day, however, 
he told me that 'he had received so much benefit that it 
had enabled him to lift his hand from his knee, which 
lie had in vain several times attempted on the Monday 
evening, as the whole ward witnessed.' [The tractors 



Principles of Mental Healing 169 

used being made of lead, Mr. Smith thought it better to 
substitute for the future two wooden ones.] Mr. Burton 
held in his hand a stop-watch, whilst Mr. Lax minuted 
the effects produced. In four minutes the man raised 
his hand several inches, and he had lost also the pain in 
his shoulder, usually experienced when attempting to 
lift anything. He continued to undergo the operation 
daily and with progressive good effect, for on the 25th 
he could touch the mantelpiece. 

"On the 27th two common iron nails, disguised with 
sealing wax, were substituted for the pieces of mahog- 
any before used. In three minutes he felt something 
moving from his arm to his hand, and soon after he 
touched the Board of Rules which hung a foot above the 
fireplace. This patient at length so far recovered that 
he could carry coals, etc., and use his arm sufficiently 
to assist the nurs . previous to the use of the 

spurious tractors, he could no more lift his hand from 
his knee than if a hundredweight were upon it, or a 
nail driven through it, as he declared in the presence of 
several gentlemen. The fame of this case brought ap- 
plications in abundance" (6:433-4). . . . 

Dr. Alderson adopted the same course of treatment 
in the Infirmary at Hull, with what result will be seen 
in the following case, which is taken from the same 
work: 

"Robert Wood, aet. 67, on June 4 was operated upon 
with (wooden) tractors for a rheumatic affection of the 
hip, which he has had for these eight months. During 
the application of the tractors, which was continued for 
seven minutes, no effects were produced except a profuse 
perspiration and a general tremor. On ceasing the ap- 
plication of the tractors, to his inexpressible joy and 
our satisfaction the good effects of our labor were now 
produced and acknowledged, for he voluntarily assured 
us that he could walk with perfect ease, that he had the 
entire motion of the joint and that he was free from 



170 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

pain. To use his own words, 'As to the pain I have 
now, T do not care if I have it all my life; that will 
matter nothing; you may take your medicines, I'll have 
no more of them.' And prior to his leaving the Infirm- 
ary he remarked how 7 very warm those parts were 
where the tractors had been applied, and then walked 
from the Infirmary to his own house, assuring his com- 
panion he could very well walk to Beverley. 

"June 5th. — Walked to the Infirmary this morning 
with very trifling difficulty; was so much pleased with 
the relief or rather cure obtained yesterday that, to use 
his own w r ords again, he had very joyfully spread abroad 
the intelligence to his acquaintance. Has had some 
return of pain this morning, which, however, was re- 
moved by another application, and when asked how he 
felt declared 'as bonny as augh,' and then marched off 
with a countenance expressive of his gratitude for the 
wonderful relief he had obtained" (6:436-7). 

Cramp in the Stomach, etc. — The following series of 
cases from The British and Foreign Medical Review, 
January, 1847, was communicated by a naval surgeon, 
whom the editor, Sir John Forbes, characterizes as an 
officer of long standing and much experience, whose 
name and high character were known to him. 

1 ' A very intelligent officer had suffered for some years 
from violent attacks of cramp in the stomach. He had 
tried almost all the remedies usually recommended for 
the relief of this distressing affection, and for a short 
period prior to coming under care the trisnitrate of 
bismuth had been attended with the best results. The 
attacks came on about once in three weeks, or from that 
to a month, unless when any unusual exposure brought 
them on more frequently. As bismuth had been so use- 
ful it, of course, was continued, but notwithstanding 
that it was increased to the largest dose that its poison- 
ous qualities would justify it soon lost its effect. Seda- 
tives were again applied to, but the relief afforded by 



Principles of Menial ll< 171 

these was only partial, while on the general 

tern was evidently \ judicial. On 6i -ion, 

while greatly suffering from the effect oJ prepara- 

tion of opium, given for the reli 3, he 

was told that on tl attack he \ put ui 

a medicine which was generally 1>. nost 

effective, but which v. ount of 

dangerous qualities, but that, uotwil 

should be tried, provided he t. Thil 

did willingly. Accordingly, on * k after 

this, a powder containing four grains of 

was administered i rhile th 

est anxiety was expressed (within the hearing of the 

party) lest too much should be given. The fourth d 

e;msed an entire cessation of pain. Half-drachm doses 

of bismuth had never procured the - 

than three hours. For four -lid the 

same kind of attack recur, and four ti met by 

the same remedy, and with like result I this my 

patient was ordered to join another ship on a different 

station.' ' 

In the next case, treated by the same medical man, 
constipation was relieved by the psychical method. 

"A seaman had suffered from four successive attacks 
of constipation. So far as could be detected, there was 
no organic disease to account for its occurrence. The 
symptoms were such as usually follow protracted con- 
stipation of the bowels; and on all four occasions large 
and repeated doses of the strongest purgatives (croton 
oil included), powerful enemata, cold affusion, and hot 
baths had all been required to be persevered in to pro- 
cure relief. On the fifth attack, he was put under grs. ij 
of bread pill every seven minutes; much anxiety being, 
of course, expressed to guard against any overdose, as 
well as to watch the effect of what was thus given. 
Within two hours he became sick (one of the symptoms 
expected from the medicine), and his bowels were freely 



172 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

open almost immediately after; nor did they again be- 
come constipated so far as I am aware' ' (6:427-8). 

Paralysis, etc. — Sir Humphrey Davy's well-known 
case of cure of paralysis was due to aroused hope and 
expectation. This case is of interest from the applica- 
tion not having been made to the part affected; local 
excitement was not an element in the treatment ; and the 
Attention was directed rather from than to the par- 
alyzed limb. 

Dr. Paris relates the circumstance in the following 
words: " Early in life he was assisting Dr. Beddoes in 
his experiments on the inhalation of nitrous oxide. Dr. 
Beddoes having inferred that the oxide must be a spe- 
cific for palsy, a patient was selected for trial, and placed 
under the care of Davy. Previously to administering 
the gas, Davy inserted a small thermometer under the 
tongue of the patient, to ascertain the temperature. The 
paralytic man, wholly ignorant of the process to which 
he was to submit, but deeply impressed by Dr. Beddoes 
with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt the ther- 
mometer between his teeth than he concluded the talis- 
man was in operation, and, in a burst of enthusiasm, de- 
clared that he already experienced the effects of its 
benign influence throughout his whole body. The oppor- 
tunity w T as too tempting to be lost. Davy did nothing 
more, but desired his patient to return on the following 
day. The same ceremony was repeated ; the same result 
followed ; and at the end of a fortnight he was dismissed 
cured, no remedy of any kind except the thermometer 
ever having been used" (6:390-1). 

Among all the moral causes which, appealing to the 
imagination, set the cerebral mechanism of possible 
causes at work, none is so efficacious as religious faith. 
Numbers of authentic cures have certainly been due 
to it. 

The Princess of Schwartzenburg had suffered for 
eight years from a paraplegia for which the most cele- 



Principles of Mental Healing 173 

brated doctors in Germany and France had been con- 
sulted. In 1821 the Prince of Hohenlohe, who had been 
a priest since 1815, brought a peasant to the princess, 
who had convinced the young prince of the power of 
prayer in curing disease. The mechanical apparatus, 
which had been used by Dr. Heine for several months to 
overcome the contracture of the limbs, was removed. 
The prince asked the paralytic to join her faith both to 
his and the peasant's. "Do you 1 you are already 

helped !" "Oh, yes. I believe so most sincere], 
"Well, rise and walk. 91 At these words the princess 
rose and walked around the room several times, and 
tried going up and down s 

to church, and from thifl time on she had the use of her 
limbs (17:198-9). 

The following are . . . cases at Lourdes which we 
give by way of comparison : 

"Mademoiselle ('. E , in 1864, after exposure, got 

violent pain in back, altered sensation, paralysis of lo 
extremities, and was afterwards generally paralysed. 
Admitted to hospital in 1869 as a case of 'chronic myeli- 
tis/ she was transferred to the incurables in 1870; Bare- 
ges was fairly tried, but in 1873, the having 
progressed, she yet began to entertain fervent hope and 
confidence in our Lady of Lourdes. Carried there . . . 
no sooner did her feet touch the water than she felt life 
return and pass to all the limbs: she felt no pain, and 
threw herself on her knees in the bath. She says, ' I felt 
the presence of the Virgin ; I felt her touch me ; I felt 
her round me. ' The legs previously wasted were found 
well developed and strong ! The patient returned home 
well, and has remained so for five years. 

"M. C. P , aet. 14, 'vive et impressionable.' . . . 

After a fall downstairs she then remained some time in 
bed and could not stand. M. Labbe certified her as para- 
plegic. This was complicated with frequent attacks of 
epilepsy; the limbs were like dead, and could not feel 



174 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

needles inserted. For treatment she had bromides, elec- 
tricity, and, at St. Louis, baths, phosphate of lime, and 
ernally the actual cautery. After one violent attack 
the right arm became paralyzed, but this got well at the 
close of a novena. Carried to the grotto; as she lay 
before it she was taken with three shivers; 'the second 
made her rise, the third obliged her to run towards the 
shrine; at first she staggered, then walked firmly, and 
took to tending the sick' " (6 : 392-3) . 

Spinal Curvature, etc. — Nearer home than Lourdes 
have there been manifestations of an extraordinary char- 
acter followed by alleged miraculous cures which call 
for some notice here. In the summer of 1879, an appari- 
tion of the Virgin was seen at Knock, near Claremorris, 
in the West of Ireland, and this place subsequently be- 
came the resort of numberless pilgrims in quest of 
health, who found in the whitewash or cement of the 
walls of the church where the vision was seen the means 
of rapidly removing various disorders, as paralysis, 
rheumatism, sciatica, and heart disease. The effect was 
heightened and sustained by the repetition of the miracu- 
lous appearances from time to time. The correspondent 
of the Cork Examiner (Sept. 17, 1881) in describing his 
visit to Knock, writes : ' l We had heard so much of the 
cures accomplished at this shrine, that to hear of them 
from the true source, from the Cure himself, was the re- 
solve we had made, and to his lowly residence we turned 
our steps; we found him seated at a table, reading his 
office by the light of a small lamp. He told of several 
cures, some of which we subjoin. He has received in the 
case of one cure, three medical certificates. W. J. Hol- 
land was suffering from curvature of the spine, and had 
to wear a plaster jacket; he was cured when he came to 
Knock, and soon after threw off his jacket, which 
weighed fifteen pounds, and walked twenty miles. 
George Crallene was cured of hip disease, and after his 
cure, entered the Diocesan College of his county, and is 



Principles of Mental Healing 175 

now on his way to Rome to complete his studies for the 
priesthood. Father Kavanagh has seen the figure of the 
Blessed Virgin on two or three occasions; he has heard 
her speak, and frequently has seen the most brilliant 
radiances, surpassing anything in nature, resplendent 
and dazzling, whiter than fuller's earth. Together with 
these wonderful appearac the cure of the tumor 

of the niece of the present Bishop of Limerick, which 
was pronounced incurable by a most eminent physician. 
She made a novena to our Lady of Knock, using the 
cement sent to her by a friend. It is no exaggeration 
to say that hundreds fa n cured in visiting Knock, 

and hundreds have been cured who could not take the 
journey by using the cement and invoking the pity of 
the Mother of God." 

Dr. John Campbell Quinn, of Belfast, writes resp» 
ing a girl of sixteen, hardly able to walk, sufl rom 

scrofulous i s around the hip-joint, which had 

been discharging for some years. She went to Km 
Three weeks after her return when seen by the doctor 
"the change in her condition was surprising. She had 
become healthy and pleasant looking, with red lips and 
full pulse, and the discharge had stopped. I have seen 
her three or four times since, and each time her condi- 
tion is better; only the cicatrices remain. Today (Aug. 
3, 1880) I pronounce her well and fit for work" 
(6:397-8). 

Scrofulous Swellings, etc. — Browne, of Norwich, sur- 
geon to King Charles II., published a book called Adeno- 
choiradelogia, or a Treatise of Glandules, and the Royal 
Gift of Healing Them. In it is the account of the case 
of a child which we cite here: "A Nonconformist child, 
in Norfolk, being troubled with scrofulous swellings, 
the late deceased Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich, being 
consulted about the same, his majesty being then at 
Breda or Burges, he advised the parents of the child to 
have it carried over to the king (his own method being 



176 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

used ineffectually) ; the father seemed very strange at 
his advice, and utterly denied it, saying the touch of 
the king was of no greater efficacy than any other man 's. 
The mother of the child, adhering to the doctor's advice, 
studied all imaginable means to have it over, and at last 
prevailed with her husband to let it change the air 
for three w r eeks or a month; this being granted, the 
friends of the child that went with it, unknown to the 
father, carried it to Breda, where the king touched it, 
and she returned home perfectly healed. The child 
being come to its father's house, and he finding so great 
an alteration, inquires how his daughter arrived at this 
health. The friends thereof assured him that if he 
would not be angry with them, they would relate the 
whole truth; they having his promise for the same, 
assured him they had the child to be touched at Breda, 
whereby they apparently let him see the great benefit 
his child received thereby. Hereupon the father became 
so amazed that he threw off his Nonconformity, and ex- 
pressed his thanks in this manner: 6 Farewell to all dis- 
senters, and to all nonconformists; if God can put so 
much virtue into the king's hand as to heal my child, 
I '11 serve that God and that king so long as I live, with 
all thankfulness.' " . . . 

"Even tumors/' says Hunter, "have yielded to the 
stroke of a dead man's hand" (6:416-7, 405). 

Scurvy. — That nervous diseases are not alone influ- 
enced by the Imagination or Expectation, is well known 
by the effect produced upon blood diseases. Scurvy, as 
has often been stated, was cured solely by this means at 
the siege of Breda, in 1625. The Prince of Orange, 
when the city was almost obliged to capitulate, sent word 
to the sufferers that they should soon be relieved, and 
provided them with medicines pronounced to be very 
efficacious in the cure of scurvy. "Three small phials 
of medicine were given to each physician, not enough 
for the recovery of two patients. It was publicly given 



Principles of Mental Healing 177 

out that three or four drops were sufficient to impart a 
healing virtue to a gallon of liquor." "We now dis- 
played our wonder-working balsams," continues the 
narrator, Dr. Frederick Van der Mye, "nor were ♦ 
the commanders let into the secret of the cheat put upon 
the soldiers. They flocked in crowds about u> one 

soliciting that part might be reserved for their use. 
Cheerfulness again appears in every countenance, and a 
faith prevails in the sovereign virtues of the remedy. 
. . . The effect of the delusion was really astonishing; 
for many quickly and perfectly recovered. Such as had 
not moved their limbs for a month before were 6 
walking the streets, sound, upright, and in per 
health. They boasted of their cure by the Prince's rem- 
edy. . . . Many who declared that they had been ren- 
dered worse by all former remedies, recovered in a 
days — to their inexpressible joy, and the no less general 
surprise — by taking (almost by their having brought to 
them) what we affirmed to be their gracious Prince's 
cure." Before this happy experiment was tried, they 
were, states Van der Mye (who was present), in a condi- 
tion of absolute despair. "This, the terriblest circum- 
stance of all, gave rise to a variety of misery: hence pro- 
ceeded fluxes, dropsies, and every species of distress 
(omne chaos morborum), attended with a great inor- 
tality" (6:405-6). 

Comments and Conclusions 

Examples similar to those just cited might be multi- 
plied to an almost unlimited extent. As regards phe- 
nomena of this kind, Dr. Carpenter observes: "The in- 
fluence of the state of expectant attention, in modifying 
the processes of Nutrition and Secretion, is not less re- 
markable than we have already seen it to be in the pro- 
duction or modification of Muscular movements. It 
seems certain that the simple direction of the conscious- 



178 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

s to a part, independently of emotional excitement, 
but with the expectation that some change will take place 
in its organic activity, is often sufficient to induce such 
an alteration, and would probably always do so if the 
concentration of the attention were sufficient. The most 
satisfactory exemplification of this principle has been 
given by the experiments of Mr. Braid, who has suc- 
ceeded in producing very decided changes in the secre- 
tions of particular organs by the fixation of the atten- 
tion upon them in the ' hypnotic' state. Thus he brought 
back an abundant flow of milk to the breast of a female 
who was leaving off nursing from defect of milk, and 
repeated the operation upon the other breast a few days 
subsequently, after which the supply was abundant for 
nine months; and in another instance he induced the 
catamenial flow on several succcessive occasions when the 
usual time of its appearance had passed. It is not 
requisite, however, to produce the state of Somnambulism 
for this purpose if the attention can be sufficiently 
drawn to the subject in any other mode ; thus Mr. Braid 
has repeatedly produced the last-named result on a 
female who possessed considerable power of mental con- 
centration by inducing her to fix her thoughts upon it 
for ten or fifteen minutes, so as to bring on a state of 
abstraction. Now the effects which are produced by 
this voluntary or determinate direction of the conscious- 
ness to the result are doubtless no less producible by 
that involuntary fixation of the attention upon it which 
is consequent upon the eager expectation of benefit from 
some curative method in which implicit confidence is 
placed. It is to such a state that we may fairly attribute 
most, if not all, the cures which have been worked 
through what is popularly termed the c imagination. ' 
The cures are real facts, however they may be explained ; 
and there is scarcely a malady in which amendment has 
not been produced, not merely in the estimation of the 
patient, but in the more trustworthy opinion of medical 



Principles of Mental 11 eal 173 

observers, by practices which can have had no other 
effect than to direct the a-' > of the sufferer to the 

part, and to keep alive his confident expectation of the 
cure. The 'charming away' of warts by spells of the 
most vulgar kind, the imposition of royal hands for the 
cure of the 'evil,' the pawings and strokings of Valen- 
tine Greatrakes, the manipulations pra< ith the 
' metallic tractors/ the invocations of Prince Hohenlohe, 
et hoc genus omne, — not omitting the globulistic admin- 
istrations of the Infinitesimal doctors, and the manipu- 
lations of the Mesmerists, of our own times, — have all 
worked to the same end, and have all been alike succ 
ful. It is unquestionable that, in all such 
fit derived is in direct proportion to the faith of the suf- 
ferer in the means employed; and thus we see that a 
couple of bread pills will produce copious purgation, 
and a dose of red poppy syrup will g a powerful 
narcotic if the patient have ent- 1 a sufficiently 
confident expectation of such " (11:863-4). 

Why, then, do Faith and Expectation work such mira- 
cles of healing? Evidently because they bring into 
efficient operation every characteristic of the mind, men- 
tioned thus far in this chapter, through which healing 
takes place. To be specific, Faith and Expectation are 
exceedingly potent not only in producing those states of 
consciousness which are so helpful in relieving pain, and 
in causing a stimulation or excitation of the muscles and 
of the organic functions, corresponding to that which 
arises from joy, fear (of the arousing type) and other 
emotions of a similar nature, but also in begetting a 
strong impression, fearlessness, mental energy and 
strength of will, which work wonders in restraining ab- 
normal muscular activity and in expelling morbid or 
diseased conditions from the physical organism, while, 
at the same time, the attention is centred, either uncon- 
sciously or consciously, on the part affected. But a 
"strong impression/' "mental energy" and "strength 



180 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

of will" are effects and dependent upon emotion for 
their manifestation. Therefore, in the last analysis, the 
healing power of mind resides very largely, if not alto- 
gether, in the Emotions and inasmuch as Faith surpasses 
by far all other agents in arousing the Emotions, it, for 
this very reason, greatly excels them all in its power to 
heal. Says Dr. Hall: "The effect of the royal touch 
or that of a hanged man's hand, — for the human mind 
is prone to extremes, — can only act by inducing emo- 
tion" (22: vol II, 25). 

Likewise Dr. Braid observes: "The mental emotions 
of joy and sorrow, love and hatred, fear and courage, 
benevolence and anger, may all arise from real or from 
imaginary causes only, and may seriously affect the 
physical frame. In many instances these different and 
opposite emotions have proved almost instantly fatal ; in 
other instances equally sanative. How is this achieved? 
Are not the whole of the emotions accompanied by re- 
markable physical changes, in respect to the respiration 
and circulation as well as sensation? Are they not 
highly excited in one class, and depressed in the other? 
And may not this act as the proximate cause in effecting 
the permanently beneficial results during hypnotism?" 
(8:286-7). Moreover, speaking of results obtained by 
hypnotism analogous to those derived "through fear 
and anger,' 7 he very suggestively remarks: "I would 
ask is not hypnotism quite as convenient and desirable 
a remedy as setting a ship on fire, raising a thunder- 
storm, converting the patient's home into a bonfire, or 
exciting him into a violent passion of anger?" (8:286). 

Evidently from the facts already established we may 
draw the following conclusions: 

1. Many, and perhaps we should say most, persons 
could heal themselves and every influence should be 
brought to bear to induce them to do so. In doing this, 
each individual should resort to those devices which are 
most effectual in bringing into efficient operation those 



Hng 181 

states of consciousness which we have shown to be very 
potent to heal, which devices, of course, will vary greatly 
with persons, owing to differences in temperament and 
mental development, to idiosyncracies and the like. The 
following remarks by "Wilkinson are worthy of the most 
careful consideration: "Like drugs, cold water, move- 
ment, and stimulants, mesmerism is capable of abuse in 
many ways. Ill-disposed persons may use it to acquire 
an influence for bad ends. It is, however, probably more 
often abused by the patients than by the agents, being 
resorted to as a kind of opiate to compensate for 
want of moral determination. In this case it keeps up 
a pernicious valetudinarianism that saps the founda- 
tions of resolve in the patient, by causing him to rely 
upon others where there is strength sufficient, were it 
exerted, in his own organization. A fatal mistake is 
made when with petting and coddling, in 

our own minds, or in oth< tefl which we ought to 

discipline with a moral lash; and tins mistake, I fear, is 
often committed by mesmeric patients. They must 
know that there is no patent outward means that can 
be a substitute for sanity of will ; that sooner or later 
they must exert themselves, and waken from their delu- 
sions ; and that every dose of their mesmeric opium over 
and above what was required, is the vehicle of a weak- 
ness which it will cost them a fresh struggle to conquer, 
whenever the time when they must arise shall come" 
(9:470-1). These remarks regarding reliance on "mes- 
merism" for help apply equally well to a too great reli- 
ance on a practitioner of any system of mental or 
psychic healing. 

2. Even a falsehood, as is evident from some exam- 
ples cited above, may effect a cure by dispelling a dis- 
turbed mental state and arousing Faith and Expecta- 
tion. Says Unzer : ' ' From an error of the understand- 
ing, the mind may esteem something to be good or to be 
evil, which is the contrary. But since in either case, 



182 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

nevertheless, the pleasure or pain therefrom is felt, it 
follows, according to the laws of the sentient actions of 
both, that the agreeable motives will originate changes 
favorable to health, while the disagreeable originate 
unfavorable changes. Hence error and truth may alike 
sometimes advance, sometimes detract from, the well- 
being of an animal; so that in this respect, as is the 
case generally, it is not every truth that is propitious, 
nor every error that is unpropitious ' ' (18:179). 

3. A " quack" medicine (or any other) could pro- 
duce the most wonderful cures, provided it induced a 
mental state conducive to this end, even though it did 
not contain one iota of healing virtue. Hence, many a 
drug, which has worked well for a time, has eventually 
been cast aside as of no real value. 

4. A mental or psychic healer of any school whatso- 
ever, even though very deficient in certain moral quali- 
ties, could, by inducing patients to fulfil those conditions 
whereby healing takes place, effect cures in abundance. 

5. A person in a very harmonious mental state can, 
through the medium of thought-transference, greatly 
benefit a patient in a very disturbed state of conscious- 
ness by imparting to such patient his own mental condi- 
tion and helpful suggestions. Moreover, in order to do 
excellent work in healing by this method, it is not abso- 
lutely essential, although desirable insofar as possible, 
that the practitioner is constantly in a harmonious men- 
tal state, but always so at the time of giving a treatment. 
Many excellent healers with lofty aims and aspirations, 
owing to unusual sensitiveness, or to serious defects un- 
subdued, or to both, at times give way momentarily at 
least to fits of temper or other inharmonious states of 
mind. This mode of treatment, however, we should not 
overlook, does not prevent the exercise of Faith and Ex- 
pectation on the part of the patient, which in many if 
not in most cases is, perhaps, the most potent, if not the 
only, factor in effecting a cure. 



Principles of Mental The 183 

6. Mental or psychic healers of all schools can injure 
as well as benefit their patients by what is termed "mal- 
practice," unless the person acted upon reject or expel 
at once bad thoughts or suggestions so imparted and 
substitute good and wholesome ones in their stead. 
Moreover, no system of psychic h< even though it 
have a religious designation, we are convin free 
from those who use their power and influene ion- 
ally for harm, in order to accomplish their own selfish 
ends. Of course, persons who do not profess to 1 

ers can and, in multitudinous cases, do make use of 
mind power for good or evil purpo 

7. A person of sensitive consc pira- 
tions is much more likely to be seriously disturbed men- 
tally than one who is :ient in 1 lalities 
and, consequently, is far more liable to 1 un- 
well in this way. Therefore health is not necessarily a 
proof that one individual is on a hi QOral pi 
than another. On the contrary, a person may I 
virtuous and still be ill and very vicious and still 
well. Disease or inharmony, however, due to mental 
causation, does indicate in many, if not most, instances 
that one is not pert 1 in realizing, or living 
up to, one's ideals. 

8. There is every reason to suppose that any disease 
caused by mind (and, perhaps, any disease whatsoever) 
can also be cured by mind, provided the proper states of 
consciousness can be brought into operation with suffi- 
cient potency. 

9. In most, if not all, cases, a cure can be effected 
without putting the patient into a state of hypnosis, but, 
although this is preferable insofar as possible, it does 
not protect the person operated upon from being influ- 
enced harmfully by the practitioner, since suggestion 
can be made to operate very potently for evil as well as 
for good where no hypnosis or sleep takes place. 

10. In chapter III we presented evidence to show 



184 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

that not only nervous troubles but also the most severe 
organic diseases can be caused by mental states. In this 
chapter we have given abundant proof that not only the 
former but also the latter can be cured in a similar man- 
ner. Moreover, since, in numerous cases cited, the cure 
was effected by psychic agencies after the most powerful 
medicines had failed, evidently there is a power in mind 
to heal many if not all diseases, when brought into the 
most efficient operation possible, far more potent than 
that contained in any drug. 

11. In healing, it is possible to determine what can 
be accomplished by mental agencies alone, but not what 
can be effected by material ones, since it is never possible 
to eliminate the psychic factor altogether. 

12. If it should ever be demonstrated that there is a 
power in mind to cure every disease, this would not 
necessarily prove that material substances (or the forces 
residing in them) cannot assist in healing, or that a due 
regard to physical hygiene in its various aspects is not 
essential in order to attain the most harmonious and 
perfect life possible. 



CHAPTER VI 

Evolution from a Physical and Metaphysical, 
Point of View 

Next to the conception of Diety, that of evolution is, 
perhaps, the greatest and most helpful thought that has 
ever entered the mind of man. It is the key, not only to 
all history, but to all knowledge and to all human expe- 
rience, whether in the realm of physics or metaphysics. 

Nations, as regards their stage of development, h; 
been divided into the savage, barbarous, half-civilized, 
civilized and enlightened. It is evident that this divi- 
sion is purely arbitrary, though it may be convenient 
and, perhaps, necessary to use such terms in describing 
human progress. The facts are, however, that as the 
darkness of midnight gradually pnnorn into the splendors 
of noon, so do the stages of man's development merge 
into each other by insensible gradations. Furthermore, 
a remote period of human development is not included 
in this category and we are forced to believe that, as 
regards length of time, the unwritten history of the race 
far exceeds that of which we have a record. 

People in the savage state have made considerable ad- 
vancement in the arts and sciences. Also, they possess 
a large stock of information in the shape of stories, 
myths, and legends, handed down from generation to 
generation by oral tradition. This period, which corre- 
sponds to that in the unfolding of the child when the 
imagination and fancy hold sway, doubtless covers 
thousands of years. Preceding this and extending: back 
through almost countless cycles into the dim and mys- 
terious past, are those periods of race development which 
correspond to infancy — that of silent wonder and the 

185 



186 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

gradual growth of communication between soul and soul 
through the medium of sound or the spoken word. If, 
then, the history of the individual and of the race are 
analogous, this must have been the order of human 
progress: First, a period in which the mental powers 
had scarcely begun to manifest themselves and there 
was, consequently, almost a total lack of verbal inter- 
course among men, followed by a period of the growth 
of language and, later, of oral tradition. The difficulty 
of preserving knowledge in this way led, first, to pic- 
ture-writing and, later, to the invention of characters 
representing the different sounds. Lastly came the in- 
vention of movable types, resulting in the printing- 
press, which has reached such a stage of efficiency and 
perfection that books, papers, and magazines have be- 
come so cheap as to be within the reach of practically 
everyone, and so abundant that we become intellectually 
satiated, the difficulty being in knowing what to choose 
out of so great a superfluity of material. In this way 
the experiences of mankind have been handed down 
from generation to generation, each adding more or less 
to those that have passed. 

In the on-going of humanity, owing to this increase in 
knowledge, every age has a life of its own, differing, in 
some respects, from all that have preceded it. What is 
true of humanity as a whole, is also true of each indi- 
vidual composing it. We enter upon our earthly career 
seemingly in utter ignorance, and begin to unfold in 
accordance wdth the laws of our being. At birth no two 
are constituted exactly alike. Moreover, inasmuch as 
each moment brings with it new experiences and new 
knowledge, in the most literal sense, every day reveals 
to us a ' ' new heaven and a new earth. 9 ' The nature of 
this new world is determined, not only by the extent of 
our knowledge, but by its quality as well. The geologist 
lives for the most part in a mineral world, the botanist 
in a vegetable world, the astronomer in a world of celes- 



Two Views of Evolution 187 

tial bodies, and the musician in a world of vibration or 
sound. Likewise, owing to various limitations and a 
difference in the tastes of individuals, each has his own 
special world in addition to a general world common to 
all. Moreover, the world of each individual is modified, 
not only by his own particular calling in life, but also 
by national characteristics. For this reason those of one 
nationality are more or less readily distinguished from 
those of another. 

Still again, a distinction of vast importance, which 
pertains alike to individuals and to nations, is that aris- 
ing from a difference of development between the outer 
and the inner, that is, between the physical and the 
metaphysical. With respect to this, a good illustration 
is found in the difference of characteristics existing be- 
tween the Eastern and West m nations. The Hindu has 
gone deep into the realm of the super-material or super- 
sensible, the nations of the West into the so-called phys- 
ical sciences. 

As regards the individual and the race, the natural 
order of development in the perception and understand- 
ing of that which exists is to pass from the without, to 
the within ; from the realm of appearances, to the realm 
of reality ; from the realm of sense perception, to the 
realm of spiritual or soul perception ; from the realm of 
diversity, to the realm of unity; from the realm of seem- 
ing disorder, to the realm of order; from the realm of 
seeming lawlessness, to the realm of absolute law; from 
the realm of that which is seen and temporal, to the 
realm of that which is unseen and eternal. 

1. The Extent of Matter or of the Material TJ inverse 

Says the Apostle Paul : "When I was a child, I spake 
as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child ; 
but when I became a man, I put away childish things'' 
(1 Cor. 13 : 11). The child, from the very nature of its 



188 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

being, must, of necessity, judge of things according to 
the outward appearance. And what is true of the child 
is equally true of the childhood of the race. It was 
perfectly natural that primitive humanity should con- 
ceive of the earth as flat ; of the sky as a solid dome ; of 
the sun, moon and stars as having been placed in this 
solid expanse merely to give light upon the earth ; of the 
earth as the centre of the universe and all-important 
and of all else as of secondary importance. In fact they 
could have conceived of the outer world in no other way. 
So near did this over-arching roof of blue appear to 
them that it is said the ancient Hebrews not only con- 
ceived of the possibility, but actually set about the build- 
ing of a tower on the plains of Shinar, whose top was to 
reach even unto heaven, and make it possible for man 
to ascend to, what he regarded to be, the abode of the 
celestial beings (See Gen. xi). That they should regard 
such an undertaking possible is not at all strange; for 
to them, of necessity, things were just what they seemed. 
This dome-encompassed, insignificant world was the 
realm in which primeval man lived for thousands of 
years. 

It is hard for us to realize how limited a knowledge of 
the universe was possessed by even the most enlightened 
persons of Europe only four or five centuries ago. Not 
only was the whole Western world unknown to them, 
but the greater part of Africa and a large part of Asia, 
while the starry heavens were an unexplored country. 
Not until the time of Galileo, who was born in the six- 
teenth century of our era, did this state of enlighten- 
ment change to any considerable extent. Then there 
comes a complete revolution in man's conception of the 
universe. Through the invention of the telescope, world 
upon world is opened up to view, and the marvelous fact 
is ere long revealed that so remote are the most distant 
stars that come within the range of telescopic vision 
that it takes light no less than 5,000 years to come from 



Two Views of Ex 189 

them to us, traveling at the incomprehensible rate of 
186,000 miles per second. Such, then, is the extent of 
matter or of the material universe which has been opened 
up to our apprehension through the work of physical 
science. 

2. TJu Sizi of Material - oj .V< 

Equally great, perhaps, lias been the ehang 

has taken place in the minds of men in their conception 
of tl of material objects, or of masses of 

To the a m and moon were no I than 

they appear to be, and the ere mere §] the 

sky. Even Anaxa philosopher, who 

born about 500 P>. ft, held that the sun mass of 

red-hot iron or heated stone, somewhat bigger than the 
Peloponnesus, and that the heaven wai 
prevented from falling by the rapidity of i dar 

motion. Hence, from his point of Fl earth 

immeasurably larger than the sun, and, of course, he 
had no idea of the immensity of the earth its. li'. 

Moreover, had Columbus known the dimensions of the 
earth and the expanse of water to be passed over in 
order to reach land in his search tor a -age 

to India, it is altogether probable that lie would never 
have had the courage to set out on so daring an expedi- 
tion in those three frail vessels, the Pinta, Nina, and 
Santa Maria. Furthermore, even if he himself had de- 
sired to make the venture, where were the sailors to be 
found who w T ould have risked their lives in so hazardous 
an undertaking? Now not only do we know the size of 
the earth, but that it is a mere speck, so to speak, in com- 
parison with some of the remote heavenly bodies. For 
instance, whereas the diameter of the earth is only 8.000 
miles, that of Jupiter is nearly ten times as great. Fur- 
thermore, we are told that it would take at least 300,000 
bodies the size of our earth to make one as large as the 



190 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

sun, while some of the more distant stars are ten times 
as large as the sun itself. To such an extent, then, have 
people changed their views in regard to the size of mate- 
rial objects. 

3. The Nature or Divisibility of Matter 

Remarkable as these changes may seem as to our con- 
ceptions of masses of matter, even more startling are the 
advances which have been made along the lines of its 
divisibility. The ancients separated the elements, from 
their appearance probably, into four divisions, earth, 
air, water and fire. Modern chemistry has discovered 
that every solid can be converted into a liquid or a gas 
and vice versa, and has reduced all matter to something 
like seventy distinct substances, each radically different 
from the others and possessing its own peculiar charac- 
teristics. These in turn have been resolved into atoms — 
exceedingly small particles of matter, and from a union 
of two or more of these molecules are formed, which are 
the basis of multitudinous substances, whose properties 
and characteristics are radically different from those of 
the originals of which they are composed. A molecule 
of water contains three atoms and is estimated to be the 
fifty-millionth of an inch in diameter. Our best micro- 
scopes render "barely visible a point the one hundred - 
thousandth of an inch," and when we come to realize 
that "the powers of the microscope have not been 
doubled within the last fifty years, ' ' one can readily see 
that there is not the most remote probability of our ever 
being able to see one of these imaginary objects. Also 
this improbability is rendered all the stronger from the 
fact that their "direction of motion is changed millions 
of times in a second" and that they are doubtless "per- 
fectly transparent" (See 13:15-7). 

The number of atoms in a single cubic inch of water 



Two Views of Evolution 191 

has been estimated to be 125 sextillions (125,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000), or 125 with twenty-one ciphers an- 
nexed. To give some faint idea of what this means, 
Prof. Dolbear makes use of a very striking illustration. 
Speaking of the stars, he says: u Ona clear but moon- 
less night . . . only about two thousand can be seen in 
the whole sky. If one million stars were to be thus 

ible, it would require five hundred firmaments as 
large and as well filled as the one looked at to contain 

hi. With the largest telescopes less than a hundred 
million of stars are visible; but what shall one say when 
he learns that beyond a peradventure the Dumber of 

ms in a single cubic inch of matter of any sort is more 
than a million of millions times all the stars in all the 
heavens visible in the largest telescope" (13:18-9). If 
this be the number of atoms in a single cubic inch of 
matter, what must be the number in a body the size of our 
globe, not to say throughout the entire visible universe? 
Likewise scientists affirm that light, heat, electricity, 
magnetism, chemism, color, sound — in short, all the phe- 
nomena of the outer world are due, and due only, to a 
difference in vibration of these infinitesimally small par- 
ticles of matter. Also, according to their testimony, these 
atoms never change as to their essential nature, are ab- 
solutely indestructible, and their number always has been 
and forever will continue to be the same. Xor can they 
be compelled to unite to form the different substances 
only in accordance with certain fixed laws. Furthermore, 
we are told that all these atoms move about in an ocean 
of ether, which is radically different from matter, in 
that it is "not atomic in structure, presents no friction 
to bodies moving through it, and is not subject to the 
law of gravitation" (13:35). Hence we see that mod- 
ern science has reduced all the phenomena of the exter- 
nal universe to these three factors: matter, ether and 
motion. 



192 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 
4. WJiat This Knowledge Signifies 

What, then, is the conception of the material universe 
as it presents itself to the mind of the student of physical 
science ? Stated briefly, we have satellite systems, planet 
systems, sun systems, group systems, cluster systems, 
nebula systems, and so on ad infinitum, scattered 
throughout boundless space, each having an orbit of its 
own, wheel within wheel, and all moving with a velocity 
which is beyond the bounds of finite comprehension. 
These bodies, in turn, are made up of countless atoms, 
no two of which ever touch each other, and which are 
changing their positions millions of times in a second. 
Also, both worlds and atoms are floating about in an 
ocean of ether, which not only extends through all space 
but also pervades the most solid substances. 

At this point the question naturally arises, Has the 
rapid increase in our knowledge of physical science 
diminished one iota the mysteries of the universe? On 
the contrary, has it not multiplied them a thousand- 
fold ? As we contemplate all this phenomena, due to the 
intense activity of particles of matter, we begin to realize 
the significance of the statement that we are in the pres- 
ence of an "infinite and eternal energy from which all 
things proceed. ' ' This, however, is simply another way 
of saying that there is only one power in the universe. 
But if there is but one power or energy, then, in an abso- 
lute sense, there is but one life and one mind. Moreover, 
power or energy is an effect and cannot be conceived of 
apart from a real being or entity. What, then, we are 
forced to inquire, must be the cause of the power or 
energy which results in all this activity? From what we 
v of ourselves and of the relation which we sustain 
to the universe, we are compelled to assume that the 
causa causarum or great First Cause is Universal Mind 
or Spirit, which, to most persons, goes under the appella- 
tion of God or Deity. Furthermore, in making this as- 



Two Views of Evolution 193 

sumption, we go no farther than the advocates of 
physical science, since neither atoms or ether have ever 
been seen by them, but are hypothetical postulates to 
account for certain phenomena not otherwise capable of 
explanation. Likewise, inasmuch as this activity ifl 
orderly and governed by fixed laws, we also assume that 
the Universal Mind is constant or undeviating in all its 
modes of operation. Thus in our study of the external 
world, even though we accept as true the teachings of 
physicists, we are driven back from matter to spirit, 
from the changeable to the unchangeable, from seeming 
chaos to the stability of immutable law. 

Says one of the greatest of modern physiologists and 
psychologists: "It should be clearly understood that 
Science is nothing else than Man's Intellectual repre- 
sentation of the phenomena of Nature, — his conception 
of the Order of the Universe in the midst of which he is 
placed. That conception is formulated in what he 
terms Laws of Nature; which, in their primary sense, 
are simply expressions of phi I uniformities, hav- 

ing no coercive power whatever. ... To speak of such 
phenomenal Laws, however, as govi ming phenomena is 
altogether unscientific; such laws being nothing else than 
comprehensive expressions of aggregates of particular 
facts, and giving no rationale of them whatever 
(30:692-3). . . . 

"The culminating point of Man's Intellectual inter- 
pretations of Nature may be said to be his recognition of 
the Unity of the Power, of which her phenomena are 
the diversified manifestations. Towards this point all 
Scientific inquiry now tends. For the Convertibility of 
the Physical Forces, the Correlation of these with the 
Vital, and the intimacy of that nexus between Mental 
and Bodily activity, which, explain it as we may, cannot 
be denied, all lead upwards towards one and the same 
conclusion, — the source of all Power in Mind. . . . 
Among the most enlightened of the Greek and Roman 



194 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

philosophers we find a distinct recognition of the idea of 
the Unity of the directing Mind from which the Order of 
Nature proceeds ; for they obviously believed that, as our 
modern poet has expressed it, — 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body Nature is, and God the Soul. 

And thus, whilst the deep-seated instincts of Humanity 
and the profoundest researches of Philosophy alike point 
to Mind as the one and only source of Power, it is the 
high prerogative of Science to demonstrate the unity of 
the Power which is operating through the limitless ex- 
tent and variety of the Universe, and to trace its conti- 
nuity through the vast series of ages that have been 
occupied in its evolution" (30: 696-7). 



CHAPTER VII 

The Relation of Mental Healing to the Welfare 
of Humanity 

Of all the movements of the present day which have 
for their end the welfare of humanity, doubtless none 
are so broad, so deep, and so practical as that which we 
have designated mental or psychic healing. It has its 
foundations deep in idealism. It is based upon that 
which is unseen by mortal sense, but, nevertheless, not 
upon that which is unknown. Its principles, which 
capable of demonstration by everyone, are the deepest 
and most sublime of all realities, using the term reality 
in the sense of that which is unchangeable and eternal. 

This movement is composed, not only of seers, poets 
and philosophers, but of all who manifest the intuitional 
spirit. It has always included within its ranks many of 
the most L men and women ; but knowledge, as 

taught in the schools, not only is not essential, but, not 
infrequently, lias proved a barrier to the understanding 
and acceptance of its philosophy. Its followers are not 
confined to any age, race, occupation, profession, sect or 
school, but are to be found in remote as well as modern 
times, among all the great nations, and in nearly, if not 
every, occupation, profession, sect or school, whether re- 
ligious or otherwise. 

Among those who belong to this grand movement there 
never was nor ever will be a single pessimist. Yet none 
are debarred, save through their own mental state, which 
results from seeing the negative rather than the positive 
side of things. Most, if not all, advocates of mental 
healing declare in the face of all the past and present 
sufferings of humanity that "all is good." in the signifi- 

195 



196 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

cance that "all things work together for good" (Kom. 
8:28), which they believe to be true not only of those 
who "love God" but also of those who do not. This, 
however, does not imply that they are content with exist- 
ing conditions ; for, as regards these, they, of all persons, 
owing to their high ideals and lofty aspirations, are, 
probably, the most dissatisfied. Nor is it to be inferred 
for one instant that the advocates of mental healing are 
necessarily cold, heartless and insensible to the pain and 
misery in the world. On the contrary, no class of people 
are, perhaps, so tender-hearted and sympathetic. How, 
then, can they sincerely affirm that "all is good"? Be- 
cause they perceive that pain and misery arise of neces- 
sity from human imperfection and limitation ; that there 
is a power in spirit to triumph over them and that, when 
rightly understood, they are friendly and beneficent. 

I. The Kingdom of God 

Such being the case, they naturally believe in the pos- 
sibility of establishing the reign of harmony, peace and 
joy among men here and now. In the second chapter of 
Isaiah we read: "And it shall come to pass in the last 
days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be 
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto 
it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let 
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we 
will walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the 
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he 
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many 
people ; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, 
and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not 
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more. " 

These words — and we might quote other passages of 



Mi : fol II ol 197 

similar import from the Old Testament prophets — come 
from the lips of a seer, an idealist, one whose spiritual 
vision penetrates beyond all external phenomena and 
lays hold of that which is within the "vail" ( or. 

3: 5-18). lie has entered the "holy place" of the "most 
High" and beheld Him "face to face." 

We could not, however, make a greater mistake than 
to suppose that the mass of the people to whom he was 
speaking saw things from his standpoint and with his 
clearness of spiritual apprehension. Not so. He stands 
almost alone among a host of those who are dwelling in 
the realm oJ ion, and have not ; . in 

soul anfoldment to the lofty heights of spiritual vision. 
Proof of this is most strikingly mani '.ot only in 

the political history of this nation, but also in the reli- 
gious teachings of the Jewish B iding from 
the time of the Old Testament prophets down to that of 
Jesus. With the gradual growth of a belief in a real 
life beyond the grave, there comes the transference of 
the reign of universal peace to some unknown clime be- 
yond the limits of sense perception. In imagination 
teachers of theology construct a Paradise for all who be- 
come Jews and are faithful in their observance of exter- 
nal forms and ceremonies, and a Gehenna or Hell for all 
others. Their philosophy is of the crudest sort, born of 
a total misapprehension of man's relation to God, accom- 
panied, naturally, by utter despair as to the redemption 
of mankind from sin and misery in their present mode 
of existence. 

Into this condition of things Jesus was born, the great- 
est of all the prophets, the very Messiah, the "Prince of 
Peace." Heaven and earth meet again and as never 
before. He proclaims "the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand" (Mat. 4:17). and proceeds to make his declara- 
tion an actuality. He shows the people how this can be 
done, and teaches men and women not only to pray, but 
also to labor, for the establishment of the kingdom of 



198 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

God on earth (Mat. 6:10, 7:21). A new era opens, 
fraught with hope for humanity as the inevitable result 
of a better understanding of the true relation between 
God and man. No wonder that the Apostle John tells 
us that in apocalyptic vision he saw "the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the taber- 
nacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain : for the former things are passed away ' ' 
(Rev. 21:2-4). 

This idea of the possibility of the realization of God's 
kingdom upon earth continued to survive in the Chris- 
tian church for nearly three centuries. Then for more 
than fifteen hundred years it becomes almost engulfed 
in a mighty maelstrom of materialistic thought and 
metaphysical speculation. Again, as in the period fol- 
lowing that of the Old Testament prophets and preced- 
ing the birth of Jesus, the place for the realization of 
the kingdom of heaven is banished from our earth. 
Likewise, as formerly Jewish, so now Christian theolo- 
gians, from their own imagination and fancy, relegate 
the abode of bliss and joy to some other world. Hell, 
purgatory and heaven are made to stand over against 
each other in striking contrast, and salvation to come 
after the dissolution of the body to those, and those 
alone, who perform the proscribed rites and accept un- 
questioningly the proscribed creeds. Later Protestant- 
ism arises, retaining the old ideas of heaven and hell, but 
leaving out purgatory and, in this respect, making the 
salvation of the sinner even more hopeless than before. 

More recently, however, and especially during the 
latter half of the nineteenth centlry, a wave of idealism 



Mental Healing and Human Welfan 199 

or spiritualistic thought began gradually to manifest 
itself and has already attained such breadth and power 
that it bids fair to become a very potent influence for 
good, if not to carry everythi? onfirmatiofi 

of this is seen in the almost magical growth of the m 
tal healing movement, many of whose men pos- 

sessed of the spirit of Christ and firm in the conviction 
that their efforts can not be in vain, believe that tl 
too, should not only pray but bor for the imme- 

diate coming of God's kingdom. 

1. The Relation of Clod to Man 

On what, then, do they base their hope and faith in so 
grand an undertaking? ] 1 <l in th< on 

the belief or, rather, perception of the on 
man. They maintain that the incarnatio] 

but universal; that the saying of i I and my 

Father are one" (Jn. 10:30), is not true of him alone 
but of all human beings, although they may lack 
conscious perception of it; that when Jesus said to his 
disciples, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for 
one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Mt. 23:9), he 
meant just what he said, signifying that every soul pro- 
ceeds directly from, and is eternally in union with. God, 
and that human parents or physical forms are simply 
the media through which God or Universal Spirit comes 
forth to concrete manifestation ; that just as the tree is 
rooted in the ground, so is every person "rooted and 
grounded" in Deity; that just as the branch proceeds 
from and is inseparably connected to the vine, so is every 
human soul bound to God by ties that can never be sev- 
ered ; that not only all life but all power is of God and 
that all anyone can do is simply to use it ; and they are 
of the conviction that this is the conclusion to which 
everyone must come who thinks deeply of himself and 
of the source of all he has and is. 



200 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disea&e 
2. The Nature of Deity 

It is based in the second place on the perfection of 
Deity. This idea has been held by the most profound 
ethical philosophers for ages. It forms the very founda- 
tion of the entire ethical or spiritual teaching of Jesus 
of Nazareth. We are told in the eighteenth chapter of 
Luke's Gospel that one day a certain ruler asked Jesus, 
"Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 
To which Jesus replied, "Why callest thou me good? 
None is good, save one, that is, God. ' ' This idea of God 
as the only good follows naturally from the fact that 
God is "all in all." This same thought of the Divine 
perfection is also expressed very clearly and beautifully 
in the fifth chapter of Matthew, especially the last few 
verses: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I 
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them 
which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye 
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : 
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. ... Be 
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect. ' ' 

Such a conception excludes the idea of an angry, jeal- 
ous or unforgiving God, using the word unforgiving in 
the sense of cherishing feelings of hatred or resentment. 
If the saying in the seventh Psalm, "God is angry with 
the wicked every clay," is to be taken as literally true 
according to a widely prevalent theological interpreta- 
tion, then, inasmuch as anger causes pain, and the 
wicked, from the standpoint of this teaching, always 
have been and always will be, God himself must live in a 
perpetual or eternal hell. Moreover, what we have said 
of anger holds true of jealousy, revenge and every in- 
harmonious thought and feeling. 



Mental Healing and Human Welfare 201 

Furthermore, if these mental states are right for God 
and not for man, then the moral standard for the crea- 
ture is higher than that for the Creator, and, if anyone 
should attain this, he would be more perfect and, conse- 
quently, more worthy of worship than Deity himself. 

On the basis of the assumption of a revengeful Deity, 
Jesus, as pictured in the gospels, is more adorable than 
the Father, and, — owing to this fallacy, which, were it 
not advanced in ignorance, would be the most shocking 
blasphemy, — unconsciously if not consciously, has prac- 
tically been so regarded by the great mass of Christian 
worshippers. Of course, what is true of Jesus would be 
equally true concerning all pure and loving men and 
women of all nations and of all ages. 

3. The Essential Nature of Humanity 

Third and lastly, it is based on the intrinsic perfection 
of humanity. If, in the deepest and truest sense, " 
live, and move, and have our being' ' in God (A 
17:28), and God himself is perfect, it follows logically 
that man, as to his essential or real nature, is likev 
a partaker of that same perfection. This is not the same 
as saying that man is complete and devoid of all limita- 
tions and imperfections, so far as his self-conscious de- 
velopment or knowledge is concerned. We know that 
such is not the case. It does imply, however, that every 
human being is primarily perfect and in the " image of 
God" (Gen. 1:27); and that no amount of false con- 
ceptions — which are the fruits, according to Paul, of the 
carnal mind (see Rom. 8 : 1-14; Gal. 5 : 14-25) and, as we 
have shown, are inwrought and outpictured in the body 
in various forms of disease — can blot out this identity. 



202 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

II. Beneficial Results Flowing from This 
Philosophy 

In closing we will state briefly some of the practical 
and beneficial results that must flow from this sort of 
philosophy, taking up these fundamental laws or prin- 
ciples in the order in which we have stated them. 

1. From the Idea of the Unity of God and Man 

There follows from this, in the first place, the fact of 
immortality. If every person is God "manifest in the 
flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16), and so stands in vital relation 
with universal mind or spirit, then the truth of man's 
eternal destiny is fixed beyond all possibility of doubt. 
He can no more perish than the Creator himself. Hence 
the truth of the assertion so often seen in metaphysical 
writings and so often found upon the lips of mental 
healers, "There is no death." To be sure, the body, the 
physical form, may dissolve and disappear, but the ego, 
the real self, must remain intact and can never be de- 
stroyed or suffer harm. Thus viewed, life is one con- 
tinuous onward flow, with no breaks, no retrogressions. 
"No act falls fruitless.' ' Every experience is beneficial 
and helpful. Every right hope, aspiration, and longing 
shall find complete and certain satisfaction. The end to 
be attained is the "manifestation of the sons of God" 
(Rom. 8:19), or, in other words, our self -consciousness 
to come into harmony with, and be swallowed up in an 
all-absorbing God-consciousness, resulting in the fulfill- 
ment of Jesus' prayer "that they all may be one; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 
be one in us" (Jn. 17:21), which is the goal of human 
unfoldment. 

It follows secondly that if God and man are one, we 
are as near God now as we ever shall be. In fact, we 
cannot get away from Him. Says the Hebrew poet, 
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I 



Mental Healing and Human Welfo 203 

flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven 
thou art there: if I make my bed in hell behold, 

thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and 
dwell in the uttermost parts of th< there shall 

thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" 
(Ps. 139:7-10). 

If this be true, tl rsonal or anthropo- 

morphic God dwelling afar off in with whom the 

so-called "good" and "pious" go to dwell when tl 
pass away from earth. 80 Car eriion fa concerned, 

God always lias been. is. and ever will be, just as near 
the so-called "wicked" as the BO-called "righteous," for, 
to quote the language of the Apostle, he is "not far 
from everyone of us" (Acts 17:27 and is "above all 
and through all and in all" (Eph. 4:6 . The union of 
every soul with God must forever remain, but individuals 
may, and do, differ in their sol ion and 

realization of it. Jesus tells us that the condition of see- 
ing God is "purity of heart" :8). It* so. no one 
need pass out of the body to witness the Divine presence. 
Moreover, no person ever has been, or ever can, or ever 
will be banished from the face of the Almighty through 
any act of Deity. Nor can he through any act of his 
own, only in so far as his ability and freedom to indulge 
in false ideas and delusions enables him to do so, and 
even this is in appearance merely and not in reality. 

There follows, in the third place, the doctrine of the 
"solidarity" of the race. This is what is meant by the 
phrases so often on people's lips and yet so little under- 
stood and practically applied, the "Fatherhood of God" 
and the "Brotherhood of Man." If, as the Apostle Paul 
declares and we have quoted previously, God is "all in 
all," then there is in truth but one Mind, one Life, and 
one Power throughout the universe, nor could anyone 
exist for one moment were it not owing to a continuous 
influx from the "one sole substance." Hence it follows 
that, as the Psalmist says, "The earth is the Lord's and 



204 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell 
therein' ' (Ps. 24: 1) ; that all there is belongs to, or, bet- 
ter, perhaps, is of God, and we are simply the users of 
it. This principle, practically applied, would put an 
end to all strife between sexes, nations, organizations, 
families, and individuals. All selfishness would dis- 
appear, and bitter competition give place to friendly co- 
operation. All pride, envy and jealousy would forever 
cease, while humility, love and benevolence would reign 
in their stead. This would lead to an increase, not only 
of human happiness, but of material possessions as well. 
Nothing could be truer or more practical than the saying 
of Jesus, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto 
you" (Matthew 6:33). 

2. From the Idea of the Perfection of Deity 

That "God is love" (1 John 4:8) is a conclusion that 
everyone must sooner or later have come to on the basis 
of his own experience. That God can be a God of love 
and of anger is rationally impossible of acceptation, al- 
though many do not seem to perceive the inconsistency 
of holding the opinion that for a Deity to have revenge- 
ful feelings is no reason why he should not be regarded 
as absolutely perfect. Perhaps no delusion has caused 
so much suffering to humanity as the fear of an angry 
or offended Deity. In connection with the history of the 
Aztecs we read that at one time floods, frosts, snow and 
drought came upon the valley of Mexico and the sur- 
rounding region, resulting in famine, epidemics, plagues, 
and pestilence. All in, and most out of, the valley were 
affected. The royal granaries having failed, fish, rep- 
tiles, birds, and insects formed the only food for the 
masses. The suffering and death among the lower classes 
was terrible. Thousands of the poor sold themselves into 
slavery. These national disasters were attributed to the 



Mental Healing and Human Welfcu 205 

anger of the gods. To appease them, human sacrifices 
were resorted to. The sick and famishing plebeians were 
not considered good enough for this purpose, and, there- 
fore, the following strange compact waa entered into: 
Three nations is the valley and three on the eastern 
plateau agreed to engage in battle at certain times and 
places, foes being equal, and those taken captive on 
either side were to be sacrificed to their gods. Likewise 
we are told that at the dedication of a single temple 
between seventy and eighty thousand captives were 
slain. This same idea of an angry and revengeful deity, 
arising from ignorance and a false interpretation of 
certain phenomena of sense perception, was prevalent 
among the ancient Hebrews, and is brought out in the 
strongest and most terrible fashion in certain passages 
of the Old Testament scriptures (See Num. 25:3-4; 
Deut. 29:20; Judges 2:14; Pa 2:5j Isa. 13:9; Micah 
5:15). 

Strange as it may seem, these barbarous conceptions 
have found their way into so-called Christian theology, 
and, as used in connection with "revivals," have been 
attended with most appalling < nces. Says a 

noted English writer on psychological phenomena: 
"Were we to take our description of the scene often pre- 
sented on such occasions from the accounts of one which 
occurred more than half a century ago in Cornwall 
(when four thousand in various towns — Falmouth, Red- 
ruth, Camborne, etc., were convulsed) and compare it 
with the descriptions so frequently given in recent times 
of the effects produced in America, Ireland, and England 
by excited harangues and denunciations of eternal per- 
dition, we should not fail to find a striking similarity in 
the symptoms. For instance, the account given in Foih- 
crgill and Want's Medical and Physical Journal, so long 
ago as 1814, would do as well now as then for one class 
of cases. Thus, we find : Yawning, violent spasms of 
the muscles of the eyelids, the eyeballs themselves being 



206 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

fixed and staring, frightful contortions of the counte- 
nance, then convulsions (passing downwards) of the 
muscles of the neck and trunk, sobbing respiration. Gen- 
eral agitation and tremors, the head thrown from side to 
side, convulsive beating of the breast and clasping the 
hands, accompanied by many frightful gestures, fol- 
lowed, the lower extremities alone escaping. At Bally- 
inena, at the commencement of the Irish revivals, in our 
own day, the physical phenomena were very similar, and 
others were present of a more tetanic character. We are 
indebted to Dr. Massie's Revivals in Ireland for the fol- 
lowing illustration of the influence of the emotions upon 
the body, especially the muscular system: A neatly 
attired young woman, about 22, had been stricken an 
hour previously and was supported in the arms of an 
elderly female, who was seated upon a low stool. Her 
face was deadly pale, her eyelids firmly closed, except 
when partially raised by a convulsive paroxysm, and 
then no part of the eye was visible except a narrow line 
of white; pulse intermittent; great perspiration; arms 
extended or elevated, and then the hands clasped with 
great energy, and her features rigidly fixed into an ex- 
pression of supplication; utterance rather incoherent; 
agonizing expressions of despair. A striking expression 
is employed in one description of the stricken. 'In all 
cases it appeared as if every fibre of the heart and every 
muscle of the body were wrung with the same excruciat- 
ing torture.' A young woman is described as lying ex- 
tended at full length ; her eyes closed, her hands clasped 
and elevated, and her body curved in a spasm so violent 
that it appeared to rest, archlike, upon her heels and the 
back portion of her head. In that position she lay with- 
out speech or motion for several minutes. Suddenly she 
uttered a terrific scream, and tore handfuls of hair from 
her uncovered head. Extending her open hands in a 
repelling attitude of the most appalling terror, she ex- 
claimed, l Oh, that fearful pit ! 9 During this paroxysm 



Mental Healing and Human Welfai 207 

three strong men were hardly able to restrain her. She 
extended her arms on either side, clutching spasmodically 
at the grass, shuddering with terror, and shrinking from 
some fearful inward vision ; but she ultimately fell back 
exhausted, nerveless, and apparently insensible. In a 
third case, the face of a woman was deadly pale, the 
features rigid, the lips clenched, the hands clasped firmly 
together, and the head moved from side to side, as if 
to indicate internal agony" (6:219-20). 

If these revivalists had caused such excruciating tor- 
ture and wrecked so many precious lives otherwise than 
in the name of religion there is every reason to suppose 
that they would either have been hung by an infuriated 
mob, or at least have paid the penalty by lifelong con- 
finement in some jail or asylum for the insane. We 
have, however, every reason to believe that most of them 
were honest men and, like Paul while persecuting the 
early Christians, "did it ignorantly (I Tim. 1 :13). Yet 
it is hard to understand how those who "profess and 
call themselves Christians" can so utterly misunder- 
stand the entire spirit and teaching of Jesus. Perh, 
owing to improper instruction and a lack of spiritual 
discernment, they were led into this error through the 
false and pernicious doctrine of an "infallible" Bible; 
for, as we have already shown, they could have found 
justification for such ideas in certain phases of Old 
Testament teaching. Fortunately such preaching is 
rapidly passing away, for people are becoming too good 
and too intelligent to believe that a diabolical spirit 
can ever find expression through an All-Perfect being, 
and no teaching is more conducive to this end than that 
which is to be found in the philosophy of mental or 
psychic healing. 

Another principle which necessarily proceeds from 
the idea of the divine perfection is that God is no "re- 
specter of persons." That God is a respecter of persons 
forms a fundamental idea of certain books in the Old 



208 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Testament writings. It is exemplified in the most strik- 
ing manner in connection with the patriarchs, Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, and especially in the deliverance of 
the Israelites from Egypt and their conquest of the 
promised land. That the Creator of all mankind could 
have told the Israelites to "utterly destroy'' the men, 
women and children in the cities they captured (see 
Numb. 21 : 2, 3 ; Deut. 7 : 1, 2 ; 20 : 16, 17 ; Josh. 11 : 1-12) 
is absolutely inconceivable in the light of Jesus' teach- 
ing and the dictates of reason. No wonder that Colonel 
Ingersoll or any one with the least particle of humane 
sentiment should not only ridicule, but also abominate 
such a conception of One whose name is Love. If God 
is the father of all mankind and no respecter of persons, 
those nations, whom the Israelites are said to have con- 
quered, were just as dear to him as the Israelites them- 
selves. 

The promulgation of the belief among the Jews that 
they were the special favorites of God, emphasized in 
their sacred writings by the most marvelous accounts of 
Divine interposition in their behalf, not only favored the 
arising of many a false Messiah, followed by the most 
disastrous consequences to them as a nation, but also 
led, at least in part, to their rejection of the true Mes- 
siah, who was too wise and too good to be carried away 
by any such delusion. The power of this conception 
over the people as a whole may be inferred from the 
example of Peter, who, notwithstanding his having been 
for three years a disciple of Jesus, had to learn through 
a vision and angelic communication that "God is no 
respecter of persons; but in every nation he that 
feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with 
him" (Acts 10:34, 35). 

The same fallacy has imbued Christian theology as 
expressed in certain doctrines of foreordination, elec- 
tion, special or exclusive inspiration of the Biblical 
writers, and in the contempt which has been shown 



Mental Sealing and Human Welfare 209 

towards all religions except the Jewish and Christian. 
From the standpoint of mental or spiritual science there 
is no national or individual favoritism on the part of 
God, but all are equally favored since He is "all in all." 

3. From the Idea of flu Inherent Perfection of 

Humanity 

This idea, based on man 's oneness with Deity, is a con- 
tradiction of the doctrine of total depravity, which was 
debasing in the highest degree, since it kept the mind 
centred on the negative and imperfect rather than on 
the positive and perfect. By this means one was led 
to regard himself as a "poor worm of the dust," weak, 
sinful and helpless. The result was gloom and utter 
despair, together with a low opinion of self and others. 
Mental or spiritual science, teaching the divinity of 
humanity, has just the opposite effect, inspiring faith 
and hope, a noble self-reliance, profound respect for 
every one, and a consciousness of power to overcome 
every weakness or temptation and to triumph over all 
obstacles — not because of a boasted self-sufficiency, but 
because "with God, all thing! possible" (Ml 19: 26). 
It helps us not to despise any one, however poor, repul- 
sive or degraded he may be, since the divine image is 
there no matter what mere outward appearances may 
seem to indicate. It also helps us more readily to love 
even our enemies and to do good to those who hate us. 
In short it helps us to manifest more easily the spirit 
of the Christ, because we see things from the standpoint 
of the within rather than of the without. Hence no 
place for a spirit of harsh criticism, resentment or bit- 
ter condemnation. It does not cause one to approve and 
love but to show compassion towards and seek to remedy 
all manifestations of human imperfection, knowing that 
all so-called sin and wickedness are due to ignorance 
and a lack of spiritual attainment. 



210 Mind as a Cause and Cure of Disease 

Furthermore, if God is perfect and man created in 
the image of God and perfect, then does it not logically 
follow that disease in all its aspects is no part of God's 
creation and no essential part of man's nature? It 
does arise, as is proved by the demonstrations of phys- 
ical as well as of metaphysical science, in no small 
measure from anger, fear, anxiety and other inhar- 
monious states of thought and feeling. Moreover, to 
what extent man's evil or discordant thoughts are a 
cause of those conditions in the so-called outer world, 
which are conducive to disease, has never been deter- 
mined. Is there a perfect remedy ? From the point of 
view of Materia Medica alone the case would appear to 
be utterly hopeless ; for, in spite of all its upholders can 
do, pain and sickness have steadily prevailed if not 
increased. Not so, how r ever, from the standpoint of 
mental or psychical science. The advocates of this 
method of healing believe that, inasmuch as man is essen- 
tially spirit or one with Deity and not matter as usually 
conceived or understood, disease is no inevitable or 
necessary part of man's being; that it is possible to 
attain a state of moral or spiritual perfection which 
shall resist and remove the most fatal disorders; that 
Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the gospels, did, with- 
out any material aids whatsoever, heal "all manner of 
sickness and all manner of disease among the people" 
(see Mt. 4:23; Mk. 1:34; Lk. 4:40); that, as he de- 
clared, it is possible for others to do the same (see Mt. 
10:1-8; Jn. 14:12) and to come into a state of con- 
sciousness such that if they "drink any deadly thing 
it shall not hurt them" (see Mk. 16:18; Lk. 10:19). 
Relying upon the truth of these statements and of the 
principles exemplified in this work the champions of 
mental healing have entered into this conflict with the 
cause of * ' all our woes, ' ' and have met with such marked 
success that hope has taken the place of despair and an 
enslaved humanity is beginning to rejoice in the glorious 



Mental Healing and Human Welfare 211 

prospect of deliverance from the bondage of false phil- 
osophies and the chains of mortal or carnal sense. 

Such, then, is the relation of mental or psychic heal- 
ing to the welfare of humanity, both as regards its fun- 
damental principles and their practical application, as 
viewed by one who belongs to no particular sect or 
school but has sought to investigate it impartially on a 
purely scientific and rational basis in order to get at the 
absolute facts. The healing of disease is, ave 

seen, merely incidental, since it includes within its scope 
the complete development of every faculty and t 
feet manifestation of fJod in every hum; ' _ Thus 

viewed, as it seems to us, it is not in conflict with any 
branch of physical or metaph; in so far as 

their teachings are capable of demonstration and, if 
presented in a kind and catholic spirit, assured 

that it will commend itself to all wl sire 

to know the truth, and to do all in their power to ivl; 
suffering humanity and help every struggling soul to a 
purer, nobler and more perfect life. 



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213 



214 The Principal Works Referred To 

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The Principal Works Referred To 215 

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216 The Principal Works Referred To 

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30. Principles of Mental Physiology, with their Application to 
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35. The A. B. — Z. of our own Nutrition. By Horace Fletcher, 
Author of "Menticulture," " Happiness, ' ' "That Last Waif," 
"Glutton or Epicure, " etc., etc. Experimentally Assisted by 
Dr. Ernest Van Someren, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., of Venice, Italy, 
and Dr. Hubert Higgins, M.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., of Cambridge, 
England. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1905. 

36. Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind. By Dugal 
Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of the 
Royal Society, of Edinburgh, etc., etc. Vol. I. From the Latest 
London Edition. New York. 1818. 

37. Mind Reading. By Prof. Persifor Frazer, Jr. A Paper read 
before the Social Science Association of Philadelphia, May 12th, 
1875. 



218 The Principal Works Referred To 

3S. Mind Beading and Beyond. By William A. Hovey. Boston: 

Lee and Shepard. 1885. 

Apparitions and Thought-Transference: An Examination of 
the Evidence for Telepathy. By Frank Podmore, M.A. With 
Numerous Illustrations. London: Walter Scott, Ltd. New York: 
Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895. 

40. Illusions: A Psychological Study. By James Sully, Author 
of " Sensation and Intuition," ' l Pessismism, ' ' etc. New York: 
D. Appleton & Co. 1881. 

41. Clinical Notes on Cancer, its Etiology and Treatment. With 
special reference to the Heredity-Fallacy; and to the Neurotic 
Origin of most cases of Alveolar Carcinoma. By Herbert L. 
Snow, M.D. (Lond.), etc., Surgeon to the Cancer Hospital, 
Brompton. London: J. & A. Churchill. 1883. 

42. Twenty-Two Years ' Experience in the Treatment of Can 
cerous and Other Tumours. With an introduction on the increas- 
ing prevalence of Cancer, and the remedy for that increase. By 
Herbert Snow, M.D. (Lond.), etc., Surgeon since 1876 to the 
Cancer Hospital, Brompton. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. 
1898. 

43. Outlines of Ecclesiastical History. By Rev. Charles A. Good- 
rich, Author of "Bible History of Prayer, ?? "Great Events of 
American History, " "Outlines of Geography," etc. Hartford: 
H. & F. J. Huntington. 1829. 

44. A Curious Case. By Benjamin H. Brodnax, M.D. The Medi- 
cal Summary, March, 1897. 

45. The Psychic Factor; an Outline of Psychology.' By Charles 
Van Norden, D.D., LL.D.; Late President of Elmira College. 
New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1894. 



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